FINALLY! A lesson!

*huge sigh of contentment and relief*

So after whining about trying to find a trainer at my constantly changing areas of residence, I decided I just needed to grow a pair (not literally of course) and make a serious effort to find a trainer. I was fortunate in that a friend from home, that rides dressage, had moved to the area and gave me a recommendation. I called 'A', the trainer, and set up a lesson. Hoping to get one within two or three days of calling, I was a little surprised when she couldn't fit me in until six days later. This was perfectly fine, I am just going to have to be a little more organized when planning my lessons. Me trying to have an organized schedule....that's a new concept.

Finally finished pulling his mane. He wasn't nearly as happy about it as I was.

I was totally on schedule to get to my lesson on time. I had everything packed and ready, Beefs was groomed and good to load, and then security decided to be a pain in the ass. Before I go on, I should mention that Beefs absolutely hates the trailer. He loads pretty well usually, but not because he wants to. He doesn't throw too much of a fit when we're moving. It's another story when we're not. When we stopped at security, they wanted to check his tattoo (apparently it is a new policy). Fiancé told them he is a saddle/pony horse, not a racehorse. They insisted on seeing it. Beefs insisted on not showing them and threatened to completely freak out if the issue was pushed any further. Fiancé tells security it isn't happening. Security tells the fiancé that they won't make him unload Beefs to check the tattoo THIS time. My ass, we're going to unload him so they can check his tattoo! The horse was already pissed and if we had to unload him, he would have flown out of the trailer at a hundred miles an hour onto the gravel and then completely lost it. On top of that, I would probably have ended up getting fined for loosing it on security. I'm pretty laid back, but don't screw with my horses' well being.

Anyway, we got to the facility about five minutes before my lesson. We unloaded Beefs, who had fortunately calmed down, and I speed tacked and wrapped him. Um, hello new trainer. My name is Jodi and apparently I'm the inconsiderate jack ass that shows up late to put you behind schedule. Nice to meet you...

Love my boy

'A' was really tolerant of my tardiness. I got on and we started the lesson. Beefs was a little tense at first. He didn't like all of the commotion outside the ends of the arena (this is a super busy place). Even so, he didn't do anything bad and relaxed a lot quicker than I expected he would. He had a couple of very small spooks. The only thing that came close to setting him off was when the lady in the outdoor arena started chasing horses around with the lunge whip. It's a good thing I took Beefs, because if I'd been on Indy, I'd probably be in the hospital right now.

Chillaxin

So, instead of going into every boring dressage detail, I'll say that it was a really good lesson. 'A' has a lot of experience with OTTBs. She gets how different they can be from warmbloods. She noticed the very slight stiffness in Beefs right hind and gave me excercises to help loosen and strengthen him. 'A' is more of a fix them through finesse than muscle them type and didn't try to make me do anything through force. She recognized his work ethic, that he is really trying to understand what we want from him and encouraged lots of rewarding. She noticed the problem with my left leg, which still isn't listening to me no matter how much I tell it to work.  I really liked her and am looking forward to my next lesson.

Such a good guy!

Starting to get better

He tries so hard to please :)

Homework:

1. Riding squares at the walk with turns on the forehand to get Beefs crossing better and more manuverable in the hind end.

2. Trotting squares, lengthening going straight and collecting before the corners to get him sitting more.

3. Spiraling in and out on the circle to get him bending and stretching through the outside of his body better.

4. Keep working on getting him to reach down and forward to the bit.

5. Keeping my left leg working.*sigh

6. Make sure that I don't break in my right wrist. Yeah, that's a new habit I recently picked up. Figures. 

7. Lots of shoulder fore.

Terrific Score Tuesday #2

I really like VTO Saddlery as they tend to be cheaper on most products than other sites out there. Not to mention they have really good sales.

http://www.vtosaddlery.com/product/CO/FLFSB.htm

FITS Laura Full Seat
Original price : $188.00
Sale price: $101.97
Savings:$86.03

FITS aren't necessarily my favorite breeches, I don't love the look of them. However, they are very comfortable and, though I would never pay full price for a pair, I would buy them at this price.

Track love

First thing, Equestrian Journey has done a great list of her favorite blogs. Check her awesome blog out!

I don't really talk about the mornings at the track that much. The best explanation I can come up with of why I love racing and why I can't imagine ever being away from it can't be really be told in words. My favorite part about the mornings at the track is watching the horses train. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than a horse running. The athleticism and heart of these animals is absolutely amazing! So, here are all of the reasons I love it summed up in a few videos.

Gigantor aka Sandy and Woody blowing out down the lane.



Look at the stride on Gigantor! Woody is a good sized, long striding horse. Sandy makes him look little. One of the things that sold me on her when we claimed her was the length of her stride. A person can do a lot with a horse that covers the ground like that. In theory anyways. We'll see. There's a few minor physical things to fix on her still, but we'll get there. And Woody, I'll always love that horse. I will also always have faith in his ability, no matter what. The talent is there.


Gigantor jogging back. She seems pretty proud of herself.

So, hopefully this gives you an idea of why I am so drawn to racing. It's the feeling that a running horse gives me. The work that the man and I put into them.  The pride when they do well. That feeling is absolutely everything.

*Bonus-Cute little kid riding ex-racehorse/pony-horse Gunner

He wasn't quite comfortable riding alone yet, so Ty rode with him. The kid got the whole steering thing down pretty well! Gunner was awesome, other than the one time he pulled the reins out of his hands to eat grass.

The kid's victory dance :)

So cute!

Good boy, Gunner!

Going.....

Gone. Wherein, I had to walk over and save them both.

Gunner with his stolen, quick bite of grass. He was pretty proud of himself for sneaking that in.

Silliness

Because sometimes a person just needs a good laugh.

Living on the edge

I decided to ride Beefs today, even though it's Quarter Horse day. Okay, so that probably doesn't make sense to you. Don't get me wrong, I love the shorties. However, Quarter Horse days mean lots of match racers (match racers fall into a completely different category from normal Quarter Horse trainers and the two shouldn't be compared to each other). Match racers usually means that for one horse, about twenty people come to get it ready to run. You figure anywhere from three to five people per vehicle which means a truck and trailer (that they usually don't know how to pull and hit the curb by our barn with) along with anywhere from four to six other vehicles. This isn't that big of a deal except for the fact that a large percentage of them drive about a hundred miles an hour through the barn area with their music blaring and the base bumpin. Therefore, you risk a certain death riding in the barn area when they're around. Because they flat out don't give a shit.

    Love him!

*They also have a tendency to get into fights during the races and try to kill each other. I'll never forget the time about forty of them got into it. They were beating the hell out of each other. Most memorable was the fifty-ish woman in the middle of it all, holding the hair of a girl in her early twenties and punching her in the face. Apparently the entire war was over a $100,000 side bet. Yeah, it gets pretty classy on quarter horse day.

Anyway, it's supposed to rain today and the ground is already crappy from the last time. I have a lesson on Monday and who knows if I'll be able to ride again before then. I didn't have much choice but to take my chances. Fortunately, Beefs and I lived.

Rub his poll and he sticks his tongue out :)

He started out pretty lazy today (and yesterday). Maybe the Back on Track really is getting him to relax. Yesterday, it was hot and muggy so his sluggishness didn't surprise me. Today it was cooler, so I was expecting him to have a little more energy. Nope. Time to put the spurs back on. The good part about this is that he is starting out relaxed instead of it taking twenty minutes for him to chill out. Considering that a month ago, I was lucky to get him to relax at all, I'm not going to complain.

We walked on a loose rein for about ten minutes, focusing on staying forward and bending around my inside leg. Then I picked up the reins and we worked on leg yields, serpentines, and quarter turns on the haunches. Then we picked up the trot and started off with some serpentines and more lateral work. He wasn't putting much effort into it at first, but by the end of our ride Beefs was very forward, loose over the topline, and swingy. I didn't canter because the footing was still boggy in some places. 

Not sure I'm loving the white on black, but it's better than I thought it'd be.

I do think that the BoT pad has made a small difference the last two times I've ridden Beefs. He has been much more agreeable. He is looser from the beginning. Considering he just had the laser therapy, I would expect him to be better anyway. I'll have to wait to use the pad more before I can get a better idea of how much it helps him. It certainly doesn't hurt.