I don't feel like saying much, but here are a few pictures of the last time I went to visit Vin before going back to school. It was raining and icky.









These are all pretty small, but let me know if I need an lj-cut.
I promise a real update one day!

I got to spend a good portion of today out at the barn. And so I am in a good mood! I love horses so very much. You know, just in case you forgot.

Anyway, I have to make a "service booklet" (an informative 8-pager) for my 'Electronic Publishing' final, so of course I am doing "Your First Horseback Riding Lesson!" (or something along those lines). So Jason E. so kindly went out to the barn with me on this chilly November day to take pictures of me grooming/tacking/riding a bit so that I can use the pictures in my project.

Here are some of my favorites:

( Read more... )

Okay, I've been pretty bad about updating this. There has been a lot going on, which is why I've been slacking, but which is also why I should have been updating more regularly. Anyway, here it goes.

Part 1: Vinnie's new home

I moved the Vinster almost three weeks ago to Milestones. He loaded and unloaded just fine (like always) and we put him in one of their paddocks with an older QH named Wonder, I think. Vinnie was pretty calm, taking it all in. He wandered around the paddock, rolled a couple of times, then settled in to graze. I hung out with him for about an hour before I realized I hadn't eaten all day and had to go home and eat. I was really glad I made the trip home to help move him. It put me at ease about the whole thing. He wasn't stressed and took everything in stride, plus the people at Milestones are really nice. And they're going to start feeding him some heavy-duty senior grain and joint supplements to help get him back in condition. He's also going to have the entire winter off (except for when I go and visit and ride over winter break) and I think will do well in their program. Mary (the owner of the farm) emailed me a week ago to let me know that he was just fine. They moved him in with the horse herd (they also have an Icelandic Pony herd that's kept separate. Vinnie saw them on the first day and was like, "Ohmygod WHY are they so SMALL???) and apparently Vin has placed himself at the top of the pecking order, as usual. I can't wait to get home on the 20th and go visit him, and I know I made the right decision here.

Part 2: Lake Erie College IHSA Show

The show went smoothly. I had an OK ride on the flat on Saturday and placed 4th. I had a good draw, a big bay Warmblood gelding named Roulette, but I didn't keep him straight enough at the canter apparently and he swapped leads once or twice. We also almost got clobbered by a horse who obviously should have had a red ribbon in his tail, but didn't.
My fence class on Saturday went a lot better, and I placed 2nd. Michael (one of my teammates) got 1st, so I was absolutely fine losing to him! I LOVED the horse I was on, a dark bay TB named Keeper. He was fun and honest. A real sweetheart and we clicked right away. I really wish I could have taken him home.
Fences were first on Sunday, and I drew Addie, a little Arab cross who is known to be a "super trotter" (has a problem with breaking on course), so I was ready to keep pushing her on and getting her going through the course. Turns out she didn't need that and just kept getting faster and faster, especially since the last line was heading home. So, our distances were uneven and our rhythm was terrible. I got to see pictures of my ride(s) though, and my equitation looked better than ever, so I was still pretty happy. Didn't place in Sunday's over fences class though.
I was BOUND AND DETERMINED to win my flat class on Sunday, because I knew if I did I would point out of Novice Flat into Intermediate. I drew Princess, a narcoleptic (seriously) dark bay TB mare, who I had seen go on Saturday. She was a good draw, framed up pretty easily and kept a nice even pace throughout the class. And, well, wadya know, we got first place. So, I pointed out of Novice Flat and will be heading to Regionals for that at least this year! I will probably also point out of Novice Fences at the next show (which we are hosting so I get to ride all the horses I'm used to). I think I only need 9 points or something.

Part 3: My flat lesson last night

I had the BEST ride I've had in a while last night. I finally got to ride LA, and he was absolutely perfect. I love it when everything just clicks with a horse and you can feel them listening and responding to your aids, collecting in your hands and going around happy as ever. I'm working really hard on fixing my equitation issues (namely, my swinging leg and rounded shoulders) and I managed to really focus last night and get everything together for almost the entire hour. I think Karen only told me to put my shoulders back once! I'm finally getting back in the groove after barely riding all summer and then getting kicked in the back. IHSA Nationals, here I come! I hope!

I finally figured out what I'm doing with Vinnie.

I found a great place that does therapeutic riding for the handicapped in Independence, Ky. I went home last weekend to check out their place and to have the director out to see Vin. She liked him, and so soon (probably by next Sunday) he will have a new home.

I know this is for the best. He will be well taken care of, lightly exercised, and loved on by all of the kids I'm sure. They also said that I could come and visit and even ride him whenever I wanted. It's still hard to deal with though. I feel like he won't officially be mine anymore.

I hope he will be happy there.

The other upsetting thing was how much weight he had appeared to have lost. I bathed him while I was there and my mom took some pictures while he was wet and his wooly mammoth coat couldn't hide his obvious weight loss. I immediately called Jacquie and told her about this, and eventually she got back to me saying that she wormed him this week and that Todd had noticed his weight loss as well and had started giving him more grain. I'm relieved. I kind of figured I was freaking out for nothing, ("you're not feeding my horse he has so many worms aahhh!") but that horse is my BABY and seeing him so thin was horrifying. And I say "so thin" but he wasn't acting sick or unhappy or anything. He was actually feeling pretty damn good when I rode him.

Anyway.

Vinnie is fine and will hopefully be even more fine once I get him moved to Milestones.
Hopefully I will also be fine.




(Yes, he's wet. And the sun was all up in my grill.)

This is all I have to show for my fall. It hurt a lot more than it looks.
I'm feeling ten times better today though, especially after the nice warm bath I just took. And Advil seems to be doing the trick for the pain. I think it's safe to say that I have no broken ribs though. I predict a full recovery in just a couple days.

Which is good since, like I said before, I need to kick ass at the Akron show.
I'm just sorry I had to miss out on riding this weekend since the weather was absolutely gorgeous.

I fell off yesterday!

I was riding WB ("WB is short for WannaBe, since the woman who donated him to us told us he was a Trakkhener (uhhh, spelling?) and he looks more like a scruffy, scrawny Appendix QH) and he was feeling up up up since the weather has cooled down drastically in the last day or two. He was acting up over our warm-up fence, wanting to bolt towards it at the canter instead of trotting, but he was still listening and I got him to trot over it. Then my coach added just one more teeny-tiny vertical for us to jump. We took the first fence alright, and rolled back successfully to the next fence.

He over-jumped, landed, and threw a huge buck. I got thrown forward, realized there was no point in trying to save myself, and let myself fall to the right of his neck. On my way to the ground I saw his hooves coming at me, so when I hit I kind of curled up in a little half ball. WB then apparently turned and threw another buck, and one of his hooves hit me square on the right side of my back, near the bottom of my ribcage.

I stayed on the ground in pain while WB proceeded to run around the ring bucking. The gate at the end of the ring was open for some reason and he took off out of the gate and down to the barn. He was eventually caught and I eventually got off the ground.

I lunged him for a few minutes then and he got some more bucks out. I got back on and we had a pretty decent ride for the rest of the lesson.

I am still in quite a bit of pain. I'm sore and stiff and think the kick might have broken a rib. Buuuuuut I will certainly survive. I just hope most of the pain is gone by the time our first show rolls around. I am bound and determined to point up (from Novice to Intermediate) at least in my flat division at the Akron show. Which is in just two weeks. Pain or no pain, I'm getting out there and riding my little butt off for the next two weeks!

Maaaaaaan. Instead of going to the barn for my flat lesson tonight I have to take a physics midterm.

TEH SUXX!

Well, I feel like wasting some time.

I'm stealing all of these pictures from my expert photog friend, yoder. (Thanks Mikey! Let me know if you care.) These are from about 2.5 years ago. I rode my friends senior OTTB Ollie in a schooling show at the Riding Center. We did pretty terribly, haha, but I had never ridden him and it was just for fun anyway.

Ollie died about a year and a half ago. RIP Ollums.

( Some of these pictures are pretty embarassing! )

I've loved horses for as long as I remember. I rode my rocking horse, played with horse toys, and pretended I was a horse until I was 8 and my parents finally let me start taking riding lessons. i started out at Derbyshire Stables in Indian Hill, OH, but it was a fancy-schmancy (read: expensive) place and my parents could only afford to give me one lessson a month. A few years later I started riding at the Winton Woods Riding Center, a very much less fancy place (read: good ol' school horses and run-down facilities) and learn most of what I know now from there. I worked at the Riding Center for four years, starting with stall cleaning and working my way to teaching lessons. Actually, I'm still technically employed there but plan to quit soon.

Right now I'm in my Junior year of college at Ohio University. I'm studying magazine journalism and am pre-vet, plus I ride on our school's Equestrian Team. I was Vice Pres. of the team (a club sport) last year, but have demoted myself to being just a member this year since my schedule is so hectic.

My riding has come a long way since I started riding with Karen Hiehle, our coach. But I've also digressed in some ways. I am not as strong or confident as a rider as I *think* I used to be. I love showing IHSA though, since I never had the money to go to anything even remotely resembling a big show with real (er, rated) judges. I'm riding Novice to start out this year, but have high hopes of pointing up in both my fences and flat divisions. My goal for this year is to make it to IHSA Nationals, but, well, we'll see.

I also have a horse at home. His name is Vinnie, and he was my favorite school horse at the Riding Center. He is a grade, bay gelding, about 20-25 years old. I bought him myself in February 2004, and when I came to school he moved onto a friend of mine's (Jacquie's) farm. She and her husband have taken care of him ever since, and I pay very minimal 'board' ($50/month). Unfortunately, Jacquie recently left her husband, so now I have to find a new home for Vin. I could possibly bring him here and pasture board him at the team's farm for $100/month (includes grain), but I'm so broke I don't even know if I can afford even that. So I'm looking at other options too, such as donating him to a therapeutic riding facility nearby. Basically I just want whatever's going to be best for Vinnie, even if it means I have to go broke or give him up to a better home.

So that's basically it.
This journal will chronicle the saga of my riding life. Hooray!

( The Main Characters )

Fin!