LMFAO

I really felt like this needed to be shared with those who have not come across it on YouTube yet.  This man is brilliant and I am a huge fan!  This freestyle won him the freestyle Dressage Under The Stars for 2012 by the way.

Clinic Day

I took Buck to a dressage clinic today about an hour from where we live and I just have to say, he was phenomenal during the clinic.  I didn't get any pictures or videos unfortunately (I'll explain why the camera was forgotten in a minute), the day started out horribly.

I didn't ride until 1:30pm but I wanted to make sure I got up in time to pull his mane and make him semi-sort-of presentable.  He's pasture bound now most of the time due to the lack of stalls (there's a barn but the horses can go in and out as they want right now).  It has been raining and nasty off and on all week long (yesterday was a particularly gorgeous day though, go figure).  and he was a MUDDY mess.

I woke up at 8:30, already running behind and went out to feed and work on his mane while he was eating.  It was FREEZING this morning, a whopping 45 degrees!  On top of that there was a steady rain coming down and he was a God awful muddy mess. His mane was easy it just needed a little tidying but the rest of him was pretty nasty.  I was lucky he had blankets on so his whole body wasn't covered in mud but his neck and head took a unbelievable amount of elbow grease to clean and I resorted to spraying his legs off with the hose because I was pretty sure there was no way I was going to just brush that off.

Shawn hooked the truck and trailer up and we were ready to start loading him at about 10:30, I figured he'd just get in and I could run in, change my clothes and we could go... WRONG!

I may have forgotten to mention since the accident with Dolly my mom gave me her retired barrel horse, Sweetie (21 years old) to be Buck's pasture buddy.  She was very upset he was leaving, trotting back and forth and calling out to him.  I can't wait until we get a barn where I can put her in a stall so I don't have to worry about her while we're gone.

Because she was freaking out he started freaking out and was rearing up on the end of the lead rope and would NOT get in the trailer, at this point it had gone from a steady rain to a pouring rain by the way.  He did finally get in and then started bouncing up and down and kicking in the trailer!!

I raced inside and changed my clothes, forgetting my cellphone, clinic application and coggins results (and the previously mentioned camera) in the process so when Shawn went in to change he had to grab all of it for me.  It only took him 5 to 10 minutes but it felt like forever because I stood out in the rain making sure Buck didn't do something crazy while we were waiting to leave and I was getting soaked through (next time I should remember to wear jeans and just change into my breeches once I get where I'm going!).

We finally left and everything was cake from there, Sweetie had gotten over him leaving before we even pulled out and was back to eating her breakfast and stopped calling out to him and the trailer trip went on without a hitch.

He was perfect during the clinic (Claudia Misner was teaching) and she even got him to really bend on the circle in all three gaits which we were having considerable problems with (OTTB).  I also noticed I sit kind of crooked on his back which could be due to me compensating for him being crooked (which only makes him MORE crooked) so I had to concentrate on straightening myself out.  Helped to make him A LOT straighter.  When he bent at the ribs he felt almost light and floating... it was incredible.  I can't wait to get back on him again.  I really wish I had pictures, he was working from the rear and looking amazing... I'm so excited!!  Also, it stopped raining long enough for me to get him tacked up, warmed up in the outdoor arena, through the clinic, and back in the trailer and headed home, it was amazing.  I'm so glad I didn't decide to back out because of the bad morning we were having.

Claudia was amazing and I highly recommend getting involved in one of her clinics if you should ever get the opportunity.

Barns & Clinics

So, the barn idea got scratched because the building the new house plan got scratched.  Yesterday we placed a bid on an already existing house with 7.5 acres, fenced for horses but no barn...  Hopefully we get the whole thing pretty cheap and can build a barn this summer after I graduate.

On another note, Claudia Misner clinic is this weekend and I've decided to take Buck to it on Sunday morning.  I figure even one day of getting him off the property for a while and riding some where new is good no matter what we're doing.  Hopefully I'll have some pictures and maybe even a video to post for you guys after the weekend.  Wish me luck!

Barn Plans

We have decided to build a barn!  For me this is sooooooooo exciting I just can't put it into words!!  I will show you the basic plans and then tell you how I'm going to change them to benefit, well, Buck for the most part haha!

So the first picture is the basic plan only I will be changing it some what.  I want to keep the 5 stalls on the left side since we're considering the possibilities of opening up to boarders (given that's feasible with such problems as liabilities, insurance, etc.) and lessons (kids only since I don't consider myself decent enough to teach anything but beginners and again after the considerations of liabilities).  I believe the aisle way being big enough to drive through is a great idea because I have every intention of putting hay lofts above the stalls with holes in the floor above each stall, that way you can just cut open a bale and drop hay down into the manger and not have to worry about throwing down bales, stacking, etc. 

On the right side of the barn I plan to remove the one random stall at the very end of the barn since that seems kind of silly and just making that a wash rack instead.  The storage space next to it has a roll up garage door on the outside and could be used to store a tractor or whatever else you might want.  Right next to that would be the tack room.  Which leaves me with a big open space I have not yet figured out what to do with.  Also, I'm trying to figure out where I could possibly add on an indoor arena some time in the (distant) future... maybe after I win the lottery or something.  The right side of the barn will be right up next to the drive way which goes back down to the house so it is not likely the blank space could be left as a possible connection spot for said indoor arena.  It would probably have to come down to taking out the top (well the top as far as the picture you're looking at is concerned) where one of the big sliding doors would be into the aisle way and putting the arena on that end of the barn, which would mean in order to drive through the barn you would have to drive through the arena either to go all the way through or back into the barn from the other end... I haven't really figured this part out yet but it will be a while before this matters I guess.

Obviously the roof in the basic plan is not high enough to accommodate a hay loft but my father owns a construction company and I'm sure he could help me draw up plans more specific to my ideal barn.

Finally, the other picture is what I would like my stall fronts to look like, I think those are simple enough and could be quite simple to build and set up... plus they look nice.  It should all turn out to look something similar to this:

Thoughts anyone or any good ideas you might have about making the perfect barn?  I'm so excited about the possibilities of building the barn I can't hardly wait!!!  I'm sure this idea will probably change a thousand times before we actually start building.

World Dressage Masters

They did it again!  81.383% in the Grand Prix and 83.700% in the Grand Prix Freestyle puts Steffen Peters and Ravel at the top of the 2012 World Dressage Masters in Palm Beach, FL!  I'm so glad they did it again, they are such an amazing team!  I found both videos from the Grand Prix (video 1) and Grand Prix Freestyle (video 2) should you like to watch their amazing tests :-)  Congratulations to Steffen and Ravel on another victory for the United States.

Palm Trees and Ocean Air

Wow sorry, been a little neglectful with the blog!

I've decided I want to move to Florida!  I know what you're thinking, "yeah, yeah, you and everyone else girl", but let's think about this for a minute...

1) Gorgeous weather 90% of the time, who wouldn't love that right? AND
2) Dressage HEAVEN!  Some of the best horse shows, clincs, etc., in the world are held in Florida.

For example, this week (starting January 26th) begins the 2012 World Dressage Masters, yet another 2012 World Cup and Olympic Qualifier and North America's only World Dressage Masters CDI5*.  I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have the chance to go to something like that since Missouri isn't exactly known for dressage shows what so ever.  Let's face it, I live in the world of cowboys and rodeos... no Grand Prix or World Qualifiers in my future if I stay around here.

At the WDM, Totilas is expecting to be showing with his current rider, Matthias Alexander Rath, after their spectacular showing in Aachens in July and the German team silver medal at the European Championships, I'm sure this duo will be a highly anticipated attraction to all those in attendance.  I love Totilas, he is an amazing athlete, but with Steffen Peters competing on Ravel again to defend his 2011 championship and score of 80.87% in the Grand Prix, and the 2011 European Dressage Championship gold medal winning team from Great Britain (Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester, I feel like this championship is going to be a bit of a thriller for those fans of Totilas during his only public appearance while in North America.  Personally, I'm hoping Steffen and Ravel can repeat their amazing performance from last year.  This pair also won the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Freestyle at the 2010 WDM in Palm Beach.

I couldn't find a video of the actual CDI5* Grand Prix test from 2011 of Steffen and Ravel but I did find their CDI5* Grand Prix Freestyle which won them a score of 84.53% and the Grand Prix Freestyle division as well.

And They're Off...

Last semester of my undergraduate career started today (FINALLY)!  Upside, I think it's going to be an interesting semester and we started earlier so we can get out earlier (finals week is the first week in May).  Downside, it looks like it's going to be a rough semester with my senior research class along with all of the other projects, papers, tests, etc.  I think I'm going to do my senior research project on therapeutic riding and how it helps the kids confidence and self-esteem, I'm pretty excited about it actually.  I emailed the therapeutic riding center today to see if they needed volunteers for their spring session that way not only can I get surveys and information from the kids I could also help and watch them progress through the program.

Buck has been getting neglected the past couple of months as far as consistent riding is concerned and I was really hoping to get more riding done since spring will be here soon and I was really wanting to go to more horse shows this year, but I'm not sure if I see that happening at this point.  I'm not a big fan of riding when it's cold out (I know, I know, I need to suck it up if I'm going to actually accomplish something with Buck).  It's tough to get motivated to go outside when it's so nice and warm inside.  Maybe I should consider moving to Florida or something.

Kind of a random post I guess but it was on my mind so I figured what better to do with it than post it on here.  I really just can not wait for this semester to get over, to graduate, get a real job (hopefully a day job during the week) so I can have more time (and money) to start really focusing on Buck and competing and really make something out of this extremely talented Thoroughbred I've been blessed with.  Otherwise, I might as well put him up for sale and have him go to someone who is really going to utilize his talents and let's face it, that's NOT happening lol!

I think this semester is really going to test my time management skills and I'm a little bit freaked out about it.  Wish me luck! lol!