Comet Gets His First Blue Ribbon!

Hi everyone! Sorry for not updating and being pretty much dead, but I figure the same old posts can get boring so therefore I really only update when something interesting happens! However Comet and I have made a big change in our direction. I originally wanted him to be a western pleasure horse (not the AQHA dragging, dead type, just the old way of an actual working pace and relaxed) and a gaming horse, however I found out he excells as more of an english horse. He has pretty, extended movement and a higher, collected head set. So I believe we're going to start working on dressage/english pleasure and jumping (since I have used a kimberwick instead of a snaffle, he doesn't get so hot-headed anymore!) and then just do gymkhana events for fun. Although I started out english, I enjoy gaming events more than anything, but I just have to face that that is just not him. Don't get me wrong, he enjoys it, but he just doesn't have the speed for it. Anyway, Comet and I went to our first 'real' show on September 30th. Granted he's been to about 3 shows, but all of those were fun and didn't have any serious classes. This wasn't a high class show, but it was still an open show that you had to have show clothes for. The competition was extremely difficult since they had record turn out, there was about 20+ people in every class. We went in almost every possible english class but didn't really place in anything due to such high competition (and the judge was an Arab/QH person). We did do the hunter hack class, it was his first time jumping something away from home and more than just 1 at a time (there were 2 jumps in a row). We could have done a tad bit better but we were both nervous after seeing 2 people come off during practice and we didn't get a chance to go over them during practice. Either way I was proud that he actually went over them and didn't refuse/stop. Our last english class was the one we placed in, it was last chance open pleasure. There were only 5 people in it but a 1st is still a 1st. It's not so much the placing from the competition that matters to me, it's a significance of our confidence. In my mind he got a blue ribbon in all of our classes because having the journey we have endured he did the best he could possibly do. He looked like an actual show horse holding his head almost perfectly every time, not swerving into other horses, being consistent in his gaits and not screaming like an idiot....at least not in the show ring. Both his and my own confidence has strengthened in every aspect. Being so terrified of him 3 years ago to bringing him to an actual show amazes me in every way. He amazes me every time I see him and while we have our tougher days, every day is a gift. We also did get a 5th in poles, but we took it slow and there wasn't many people at all in there either. And of course there's a video ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awV8Zr5N0oE

Just So You See We're Still Alive...

Man it's been a long time since I've posted on here! Comet did end up going to the show in Indiana back in March. While it could have been worse, it wasn't exactly what you would call normal. He attempted to lay down in the warm up ring once (only made it halfway until I got after him to get up), he had a flip out moment at the trailer and when his friend was 10ft away from him instead of next to him, and he took 1 1/2hrs to get back into the trailer. While he is definitely no professional, I was surprised that he did well in poles. We don't really have the proper facilities to train for poles (small indoor and only fields to ride in outside) so once he knew what he was doing, he did a lot better than what I expected. Even though I know he'll never be any show horse, he's still my boy and I was proud of him. He tried his best for the classes we entered and we're just in it for the fun of it, not the competition ;) Hope everyone has a great ride and enjoy this awesome weather while we have it! Here's a small view of the show (copy and paste the link) : http://vimeo.com/39678111

Comet's Next Stop is Indiana

Well it's not for another 2 months, but I never update this thing! There's my old barn owner's fun show in Laporte, IN which is about a 1 1/2hr drive from the barn. I'm really hoping to bring the C man. The thing we need to work on is loading since his last loading experience wrecked him and now he's scared to get in the trailer all together. So the majority of the next 2 months will be working on trailer loading and some gymkhana patterns. And now that his new bit came in today, we can finally start! Some other exciting....well not so exciting news about Comet is we're finally getting back into work after taking a tumble about 2 weeks ago. We were just playing a game with one of my barn buddies and he either just took a bad step or just didn't move his legs quick enough. He face planted and almost somersaulted, but he managed to not go all the way over. I "dismounted with style" off to the side since I thought he was going to go all the way over and I was pretty much on his neck so I didn't want to push his face further into the dirt. He was perfectly fine afterwards, I just walked him around the rest of our ride and gave him some time off just in case. Although he proved just how good he was feeling when we had our first major snow ;) We both had a blast running around in the field in the snow on Saturday and my friend got some awesome pictures which I'll be sure to post when I have them! That's about all that's happened recently so I'll end this post with a happy riding to everyone and my newest video staring a familiar face ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWu8o5a6AU

Juuust another update...

Well nothing interesting has really happened lately, it's always so boring in winter! I just got another english saddle after I sold my ugly one a few months ago so we're going back to having fun with a little jumping. We went over some cross rails on Tuesday but when I wanted to try a small vertical he decided it would just be easier to walk over it. But I don't blame him since I don't have the best equitation in the world. I just like to switch it up a bit so it's not the same thing every single ride, makes it a bit more interesting for the both of us! He seems to be enjoying himself with this weather since the little devil tried to buck me off last week when I was bareback. He likes to be a little showoff when people are watching, he was fine when we were by ourselves but once the group of kids came in he says "oh boy people! Come pet me!" But that's just typical Comet. Overall it's been pretty quiet, usually do more when the weather gets a bit warmer or when theres some snow, but with this up down weather who knows when that'll ever happen! Happy winter riding everyone!

Together, We're Unbreakable...

Hey guys! Just a little update on the C man. He's doing great and really getting the hang of collection and moving much slower (but not to the point of dragging around!) and I'm happy with the pace he moves now. The only thing he struggles with is headset. It depends on the ride, if I haven't ridden him in a while he wont keep it too long, if I consistently ride him then he'll usually keep it level for the majority of the ride. And stupid me broke my training fork when I slid off and it got caught on my pants pocket (it was looped around the horn because I usually take it off for cool out). But I was going to start riding him without one anyway. Anyway nothing interesting or new to add, but just finished my first video of him with my new editing software and just wanted to share and see his progess!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOZspFh42wA

Video from today's ride...

Comet did pretty great today considering he hasn't been ridden for over a week. Since nothing's new I don't update on here too often, but just thought I'd give you guys some clips from today's ride I forgot to add in transitions so it jumps around a bit!

Just another update....

Sorry I don't get on here too often. I figure you guys would probably get sick of hearing the same things over and over. Comet's doing good and is pretty solid at the walk jog and lope, just need to work on keeping his head set at the lope. Today was his first day riding out in the larger field (about 7 acres or so). He was his usual ADD self and couldn't keep much focus on me and was too excited about the other horse galloping around and the other horses at the barn. But we did lots of large/small circles and figure eights to keep his mind busy. We only had 2 tweak outs both of which were just "im running whether you're on me or not" moments which was expected since he's never been in that big of space before (the closest to an open area was the other 3 acre field). After a couple more rides in there he'll be more relaxed and good to go! Well that's about it, enjoy this quick clip of Comet grazing in the pasture (: