Life is Good!

"Archie"-Mark Thomas Racing Stable mascot extraordinaire!  

After a rough week or two during and after KY Classique, things are really going well around here and we've been very busy with all sorts of new stuff going on!  Snoops had been a little crabby after KY Classique and I feared that his kissing spine might be bothering him again.  After palpating his back it was glaringly obvious that he was indeed sore.  I got him through the week and then took him to Hagyard for Dr. Werner to inject his back again.  He's good as new!  His first set of injections lasted about 6mos., so she is optimistic that we will be able to manage him this way.  After Jumpstart she is also going to give him a shockwave treatment just for good measure.  That plus his new Ecogold Triple Protection half pad and his Back on Track blanket (we call it the million dollar blanket!) should leave him feeling his best for the training 3-day at Midsouth!!!

That brings us to poor Cheddars.  While all this was going on with Snoopy's back, Cheddars was savagely beaten by the hateful Haflinger pony I had in training.  What a witch!!!  I had just put them out together while they were waiting for the farrier and it took her all of two seconds to pin him up against the wall and beat the crap out of him.  He was sore for about a week and also kept pulling his front shoes off on top of it!  Ahhhhh!!!!  We finally got his feet sorted out and he's feeling fantastic now.  He too should be in fine form at Jumpstart if he can keep his head about him in the dressage!  Scott and I are stabling far apart to see if that helps any.  It can't hurt to try.  The things we do for these horses!

That brings us to the good news.  I finally quit my horrible serving job and went back to doing something I love to help support my habit-galloping race horses!!  A trainer that I love and have worked for on and off for several years recently came back to Turfway, as he does every fall, and is having me gallop a few every morning.  Not only do I get paid to do something I love, but it will also ensure that I am plenty fit for the 3-day.  This led directly to my next piece of good news.  We've got a new horse!!!  It took all of 3 days of being back at the track for someone to offer me a free horse.  I was skeptical, but I  liked the look of him and decided to gallop him to see how he moved.  He hadn't been out of the stall for 3 weeks and was a total gentleman which scored him major points right away!  He is a good mover and he's got great feet.  We decided it couldn't hurt to take him and see how he pans out.  He may work for Scott when Cheds retires, or I might just steal him!  Time will tell.  He's living the good life right now, learning how to be a horse out in the field at a friend's place.  He needs to put on about 100lbs.

His name is Glitter Canyon, or "Dougie" in the barn.  He's by the stakes winning stallion Glitterman.  We can't wait to see how he does!  He's been very good about everything so far!

My final piece of good news is of course about Snoops.  Our dressage has either been very good or very bad this year, very inconsistent.  I have felt lately that we were spinning our wheels and that I was nagging at him and causing arguments that never should've happened.  I want to get this sorted out before the 3-day so I decided to take a lesson from Reese Koffler-Stanfield.  I needed someone with a fresh perspective about this horse who hadn't already formed negative opinions about him.  So we braved the nasty weather Monday and shipped an hour and a half to Reese's farm in Lexington and let me tell you it was worth all the trouble!   She is very strict (which I am used to), but also very mellow (which I am not used to!)  It was just what the doctor ordered and I've had a fabulous week with Snoop. We just tweaked a few things and the difference is night and day!  I will be heading back for another lesson the week of Midsouth and hopefully many more to come! 

Still a few ducks to get in their row, but I am extremely positive about the the direction things are headed around here.  See you at Jumpstart and Go Eventing!

A Weekend to Forget

Ok, so after I locked my keys in my truck, broke my watch, broke my necklace, and nearly melted, I probably should have seen the signs to just put Snoops back in the trailer and leave KY Classique before I ever went down center line.  Something told me for days before that this wasn't going to be a good outing.  No reason really, as Snoops was doing fine and his last jump school leading up was phenomenal.  I just didn't feel right about it.   First of all it was ridiculously hot-100 degrees Fri and Sat.  Couple that with 3 events in the last six weeks and I just don't think either one of us wanted to play.

Our dressage lacked anything desirable for a good test.  Not forward, heavy in the bridle, and just plain flat.        He was also very unfocused and didn't like warming up in the small ring with 20 other horses.  We got the crappy score we deserved.  He probably could've used more warm-up, but I didn't want to take too much out of him before jumping a very big xc in the heat of the day.  What am I talking about-the "heat of the day" was pretty much all day!

Several of us in the xc warm-up were trying to convince each other that this was indeed a good idea and that we needed to improve our attitudes really quick if we were gonna give our green horses a good ride!  I felt very heat sick before I left the box and I had to kick Snoop up the hill to the first which is very unlike him.  He also decided after fence 2 that the bit I thought we had agreed on was suddenly way too much.  Every time I touched his mouth he went crazy which made it really difficult to balance in front of the fences.  It was clean, but ugly with a few time penalties since we spent so much time arguing.  He felt like he could be jumping the Prelim course at his first 2 trainings, but not this day.  The jumps weren't the problem, but the communication was a huge problem.  He has to remind me every once in awhile that he is indeed still very difficult to manage at times.  I still love him though, and don't worry, I've made oodles of excuses for his behavior during the show!  My all-time favorite quote from Jimmy Wofford's book: "If you purchase a horse that you didn't like when you first saw him, you will never be happy with the horse.  You will never make excuses for him, and you will never enjoy yourself as much as you would riding a horse that you fell in love with at first sight."  I have always taken this to heart, having experienced both sides of it.

Snoop show jumped clean, which says something because I think something like 50-60% of horses over ALL divisions had at least a rail.  The course was very small, with nothing about the jumps to hold the horses at all.  He was very unimpressed which made him very hard to ride.  I think he was still a little mad about Sat. as well and I've been schooling prelim SJ fences at home.  We managed to claw our way up to a 9th place ribbon-5 spots from where we started.  He came home quite sound and happy with the cooler temps.  He almost killed me when I turned him out on Mon. night!  We can both now enjoy several weeks at home until Jumpstart, where I anticipate a much better showing!

See you soon and GO EVENTING!

And the Winner Is.....

Congrats to Kathy Alexander for winning the raffle in support of Snoop's trip to the Midsouth T3D!!  Thanks to everyone who supported the cause!  FYI- Snoops is entered in the 3day and unless he has trouble  at Jumpstart it should be a go!  I'm gonna shut up now before I jinx us!!
Thanks again!