How Far We've Come.....How Far We've Yet to Go

Well, 2011 is almost over and I have to admit that at this point I've been doing a whole lot more looking forward than looking back.  Don't get me wrong I've done plenty of reflecting throughout the year, basking in the good memories and learning from the not so good ones, but it's really been a great year.  I am soo excited for 2012!!!!  This time last year I didn't even know if Snoop was going to make an event horse and now we're four weeks away form doing the PT at Sporting Days!  We are really starting to get that "old married couple" thing going on which is great.  I feel like we're partners now.  When I start to get frustrated with him I make myself look back to gain perspective and boy has the little man come a long way!!!  He went from having stops at beginner novice in May, to a win at Novice in June (on a 29!), to four clean trainings and a clean T3D in October!  I am still cautious to not get too far ahead of myself, but he's such a talented horse it's hard to not get excited for his future!  I needed a great year in order to keep going in this difficult sport after several bad ones and I got it.  Check out the pic below of Snoop's one and only event in 2010.  He was still looking very much like a racetrack rat!  Not anymore.

Snoop 2010

Snoop T3D 2011 courtesy of Xpress Foto

We had several big changes during the last half of the year and the last few weeks of December have been a bit of whirlwind!  Scott moved up to training with Cheddars this year and had a great clean xc round at Erie, but it has become apparent that Cheds is ready to live a bit of an easier lifestyle.  Scott learned so much from him and they are great partners.  We are very fortunate to have had him sort of "fall into our lap" 18mos. ago.  We love the crabby old QH!  My return to the racetrack this year after 3 years away was a very welcome change and I've been loving it!  We we're very busy these last few weeks with almost all the horses racing at one point or another.  We moved barns in November which is always unsettling, but the horses handled it well and are very happy.  We've also acquired a new addition to the barn!  Only just this past Thursday we welcomed a beautiful 4yr old bay TB mare into the barn.  She's an excellent mover and so athletic and light on her feet.  Of course she's also just a little thing at 15.3h because I wouldn't have it any other way!  Scott doesn't understand what I have against big horses, but he said now I have "a matching set of powerful munchkins!"  She only ran 7 times and she's young so I look for her to be fairly easy to re-train.  Famous last words right!  

Last, but not least is my personal favorite new happening.  Scott has taken over the training duties of his new event horse in-the-making, Dougie.  I don't like riding the horse much, so Scott asked if he could try him before we got rid of him and they love each other!  It's very cool to watch him ride with his head and be patient and forgiving with this old, stubborn racehorse.  He started 59 times and is coming 8yrs old, so he's a bit set in his ways.  He's a perfect first project for Scott because while he may be a pain in the a@#, he's very sensible and won't do anything dangerous.  I am very excited to help them train and form a partnership this year!  

We are now armed with a fancy new digital video camera (thanks Mom!) so be on the lookout for footage of the new horses soon, but until then..........GO EVENTING and GO 2012!!!!

Snoop T3D courtesy of Xpress Foto 2011

Show Jump Schooling

We are planning a trip to Lakeside Arena on Friday, Jan. 13th to do some schooling over their show jumps.  If anyone is interested let me know.  Should be a fun and productive way to break up the winter boredom!

Ups, Downs, and Learning How to Go with the Flow

Anyone who knows me well, knows I haven't always been very good at going with the flow.  I haven't always been the most patient, laid back person either, but I've gotten a lot better as of the last year or so (thanks Snoop!)  I'm very good at turning small setbacks into catastrophic events!  So when we were asked to leave our very nice facility at the end of October (owner basically wanted the place dusted with Pledge once a week and aisles power washed every 3 days, etc.. Uhh, don't think so), I have to admit I panicked a little bit.  We kind of saw it coming and it was definitely for the best, but relocating horses is just plain stressful no matter how you look at it.  There are very few places in this area that are suitable for training upper level event horses, but I was lucky enough to find a nice work-in-progress 10 miles from my house!

The only real downfall at the moment is my lack of indoor arena, but construction is set to begin on a 100x150 indoor with a new barn in Dec. or Jan.  The outdoor is huge, but the footing was bad so the wonderful owner had new footing hauled in for me last week.  Now the only problem is getting it from the driveway to the arena with all the rain we've had!  The bobcat is too heavy and will destroy the arena before we fix it, so he's going to wait until the ground freezes this week to haul it in.  I've bought a new rain suit and a waterproof quarter sheet for Snoops, so like true eventers, we WILL make it work this winter!  I've got my horses all set up to get snow pads for the winter so we can ride in the snow and will be purchasing a very large quantity of calcium or magnesium chloride to keep my arena from freezing as best I can!  I'm learning all sorts of new things in my quest to ensure that I can ride all winter long!

With that being said, the horses are noticeably happier in their new home.  I think they like being around other horses and all the barn kitties.  Never a dull moment!  I also think they're enjoying being trained outside more.  I have to admit that with an indoor like I had before, it's hard to want to ride anywhere else, but the horses get quite bored.  We have a very nice round pen and miles of cleared paths for hacking and galloping, as well as a gallop field and a crazy hill across the street that I'd like to get permission to use in the spring!  Spending so much time just trotting and cantering out on the trials and in the fields and making Snoop go really forward into his bridle has done wonders for developing his medium gaits!  We shipped to an indoor to ride over Thanksgiving and I was very pleasantly surprised by the lengthenings I was getting.  He felt a lot less like a chihuahua/hackney pony cross and more like a real dressage horse!  I've just been trying to maximize what I do have at my disposal and not dwell on what I don't have right now.  I've just had to get a little creative, but everything will be okay.  I got a little bent out of shape when my footing wasn't actually in my arena by yesterday and my mom said, "Seriously, what's 3 or 4 more days in the grand scheme of things?"  She's right.  It's not the end of the world.

I will get some pics up when it stops raining, but until then.....GO EVENTING!