Good ride

Today was a great ride, even though I only walked and trotted. I did pop over a jump. All in all, Mason was amazing today. I had 3 good rides in a row. Hopefully it will continue.

Health

Poor Mason hasn't been feeling himself for the past day. It doesn't totally seem like colic since he's eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping. So I don't totally know whats up.

I had plans to hang out with Ryan last night but it changed when I got a text from Robyn asking if I was around to walk him. So I called Ryan to tell him what was up and he offered to come meet me at the barn! How sweet!

Very distracted, but Mason is looking better. So crossing my fingers I wont have to call the vet.

Todays lesson

I had an amazing lesson today! We worked on getting Mason to hold himself up, and he did for 85% of the time! He was perfect almost the whole time we were trotting, but once we started to canter it started to go down hill a little bit. Not horrible, but I just need to remind myself to take baby steps! He was pretty light to the left, of course his easier side. But towards the right he was a bit heaver and a bit all over the place. Our 20 meter circle wasn't really 20 meters, more like 15-20 squareish. Eh, we had a good ride anyways. Its crazy thinking back that just in July I was holding and Mason's nose was just inches from the ground and I was holding him up. Now in October hes holding himself up 95% of the time! Hes such a good boy! Now I just need to remember how to jump!! One day maybe or we'll just become a dressage pair. Who knows.

Valinor October Dressage

Where do I start? Mason and I did the Valinor dressage show on Monday. We did Training test 1 and beginner novice B. This show was very small. So there was just me and 1 other person in my division. The other person did training test 1 and 2. When I saw this I thought theres now way I'm going to beat her. But I was wrong! I got first and second! I am beyond excited. First off, this was my first show with my brand new beautiful Voltaire dressage saddle!

First off, I literally had about a 5 minute warmup if that. I just misjudge the warmup time but it worked out great! I did training test 1 first, and sat during the test. During the test I was thinking and feeling both Mason and I really feel like true dressage riders, not event dressage riders. While thinking this I was joking to myself that our next show is going to be Devon! While cantering Mason decided it was a good idea to do a bunny hop... Well I guess it wasn't a hop where it was more of a bunny leap! Thank goodness I was in a dressage saddle because I would have been thrown!! Anyways, he was very good after that.

He was so good with a little warmup I decided not to warmup at all and risk it. The only warmup we did was when the judge was talking to the person before my test. So we cantered to the left and that was it. While riding my test I didn't think it was that good. No bucking but it just didnt feel as smooth. Well feeling and seeing it was different because I ended up getting a 71.4!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!! Which means a 28 if it was an eventing score!!! OMG, I was beyond excited when I saw that!!! That is now my new lowest score!!! I am thinking about doing the actual 2 phase at Valinor in April!!! Wicked excited!

The best part of the weekend was mumsie got to see our first test! It was nice to have her there!!!!

Valinor HT

Mason was amazing during the Valinor HT dressage test! It wasn't our best test but we made it! Mrs. B was our judge and we tied for 5th!!!

Beth Beukema

Mrs. B LOVED Mason!!! She thinks we'll be able to do great things! He's going to have a great stretchy trot! I want to take him to some dressage shows asap!

3 Phase

Email to Courtney. We went to our first 3 phase yesterday at Flatlands!! We did a beginner novice dressage test, a mini log course, and cross rails for stadium. We got a 31.43 in dressage which put us in first place, the spread from first and second was huge. During cross country I made a little mistake and stopped riding right before a ditch. We went clear in stadium. The 1 runout in cross country put us down to 4th. All in all a great day! Both dressage tests I've done I had comments saying what a elegant and talented horse Mason is. I have a dressage lesson tomorrow with Beth Beukema, so we'll see what great things she has to say about him.

Right when I got up to the judges table a piece of paper flew in front of us. Mason was a bit spooked but he was soooo good! It took him a couple of times to convince him that no papers were going to fly in front of him again. I couldn't have been happier with our dressage test!!
Cross country I was so mad I had that refusal at the ditch, I know it was my fault but it still doesn't make me feel good that the first place ribbon was in arms reach!!!! Especially since we had a clean stadium round! 

2nd fall

I had a group lesson with Brittany, and Dana taught. When I first got Mason I could tell he was in a bad mood by his attitude... Long story short Mason DUMPED me! Brittany told me "I had a lot of air" Ugh! I don't even remember what happened. He either did a HUGE buck or turned the corner too quickly and I flew off of him!

I am in a rut with him right now! I hope it goes away fast!

Jumper Show

Tuesday Lisa rode Mason and they looked great!

Thursday was the jumper show. We only did the cross rail division and I'm glad I did because he was just a bit of a bucking machine. Thankfully I stayed on!!
Today, Sunday, I had a really nice jump lesson with Lisa. We were working on my position and putting my hands way up on his neck and not getting left behind. It seemed to work, now I just have to be able to do that outside of lessons.

I'm going to try to have a couple lessons with Dana!! Should be fun!

Show day

What can I say besides I had the BEST show experience ever!!!! We got a 39.52 in dressage, mainly because Mason was very behind my leg. He was awesome during warmup, vey prompt during up transitions so I didn't think I needed a whip. Turns out I did because he became very behind my leg once we entered the ring.

Marissa came as well and she did the 3 phase, lets just say Rocky was an ass and dumped Marissa off. When I saw this I was very worried that poor Lisa would have had 2 people fall off during the show. Right before I started to tack up for stadium the sky got dark very fast. So we tacked up super fast, did a quick warmup and then went right into the stadium ring. It started to drizzle a little bit but not bad. The bell rang, and I started my course. Jumped the first one at the trot and he cantered away. I didn't want to risk falling off at the second jump so I slowed him down to the trot and we trotted the second, by the 3rd or 4th jump we felt good so I just kept the canter. We were rocking the course! We got to the castile  jump and he was looking a little bit and was crossing my fingers he wasn't going to refuse. He jumped that like a pro!! All and all I had the best stadium course ever! We went clean and we finished on our dressage score! By the time I finished my stadium course the skies weren't looking very friendly so Mason got untacked and we threw everything in the trailer. We left Flatlands in record time, we left not even 10 minutes after I finished the stadium round.

Mason is THE best!!!!

Show Prep

I had a great lesson today with Lisa. I ran through my dressage test and then we did a mini jump course. By doing the jump course we decided that I would trot the course tomorrow to make sure its a nice and relaxing show day for both Mason and I.

I "conned" Kelly into braiding Mason today, and he looks super super cute all braided up! Today has been the most relaxing off farm show prep day I have ever had! Now lets hope I have no problems showing tomorrow.

First Fall

I had my first fall today on Mason today. Martha and I went on a trail and on our way back Mason threw his head down and gave a huge ass buck! It thew me on his neck and I slid off and not long after he booked it up towards the run in sheds back down the new grass area, slid towards the hay bails and booked it towards the training rock cradle. At first I thought good, he has no where to go so he'll stop. Then I saw that look in his eye that looked like he was going to jump it! But he turned around and started to go up to the house and then some how made it down the driveway. If it wasn't for Dana and Boo in the ring I would have gone back to the barn to look for him. Turns out he BOOKED it down out towards the driveway. Dana was quick on her feet and called her dad and he booked it down from the garage in his golf cart, I jumped in and we headed towards the road. At first I thought he went to the bogs but nope... he took a left out of the driveway and from his hoof prints looks like he galloped all the way down Old Sandwich Rd. Thankfully there was a car that must have stopped him because he was just hanging around with the car.

He saw me and started to walk towards me with the 'sorry mom but I just needed to gallop, I didnt mean to make you mad' look on his face. Damn, I have never been so mad at him before! Once I got him I hand walked him back. Dana came out with Boo to see where we were and we all walked back together.

I hosed Mason off and saw he had a couple of scrapes, but nothing major thank goodness! When I had him on the cross ties and brushing him you could tell he was feeling really bad. I'm still pissed but need to look at the big picture and be thankful he wasn't hurt.

Clinic

Mason and I rode in our first clinic today with Rick Pearson. I really liked him and got a lot out of him but I'm not 100% sure if I really got $90 worth out of it. I learned to loosen up my shoulders, and have everything work separately. I also learned how to move my arms with Masons each stride. And how to teach him how to not lean against me and if he does lean have him lean against himself. I can do this two different ways, one way is by bridging my reins and the second is having my outside thumb lie against his withers and use my inside rein to lift him up.

It will be interesting to see how it works on my own.

Dressage lesson

I had a dressage lesson today to prepare for this upcoming weekend. I got to use a whip today to help me with up transitions. Lets just say Mason defiantly reacted to it.

Bareback

Yesterday it was super hot again, so I decided to go to the barn later when it cooled down a little. The camp kids were everywhere! So I didnt want to ride where they were, and who knows where they were riding. Abby and her mom were at the barn. I saw them coming back from a trail ride bareback and it gave me the idea to just go bareback, less tack to put on.

I rode in the indoor because the camp kids were everywhere. Mason was awesome! We walked, trotted, and cantered bareback. I was amazed that I could sit his trot for as long as I did. Our canter to trot transitions weren't very pretty, but oh well. I already knew that. But otherwise it was great, I will be going bareback on him a lot more now knowing he is so good and calm and I can actually sit his trot and canters.

Today was just a quick ride because James was leaving to go to GMHA and he was talking to me and all of a sudden he's become nicer which is a shocker! But anyways, I hung around with him for most of the day.

Recap

Monday - I did trot hill work. I started out in the front field then trotted up to the grass hill. Its a wonderful feeling being able to trot away from the barn without any problems.

Tuesday - Jump day, Kelly and I rode together. I jumped just one jump since I was too lazy to put more out. Yesterday was the FIRST time I actually had fun jumping the WHOLE time! I thought to myself that I can enjoy jumping again! Who would have thought after Pokita?Videos to come. At the end of our ride, Kelly, James, and I went out to the back fields. We had so much fun!!! James had my camera and he was taking lot of blooper photos of Kelly and I. On our way back Kelly and I started to go different ways to see who would get to the storage building first. All of a sudden, no warning, Mason jumps up in the air with all four feet off the ground! The two things that were going through my mind was 'omg, I'm going to fall off' and 'Oh shit, we are going to gallop back to the barn' but after Mason's jump up he acted like noting happened. This was the first time when a horse spooked and I laughed and didnt have a panic attack! I'm not sure if it caught me so off guard or what, but I started laughing after I realized what happened and when I knew Mason wasn't going to do anything bad.

Wednesday - Today the temptures were up in the 90s. Since I worked in the AM and since it was so hot I gave Mason the day off. So I gave him a full bath today, when he was done he was SHINING! I cant wait to see if he is still shining tomorrow when i go to the barn. Gail and James were at the barn today. Gail came up to me and told me that James said he thinks of me as an older sister!! When Gail said that I was just in shock! In a good way, it touched me! James is a great kid! It made my day!

Heres a video of our awesome jump ride. Thanks to Kelly for the video

Jump lesson

I just had the BEST jump lesson with Lisa today! Even though I only jumped over cross rails it was amazing! We did a mini course and we didnt throw or refuse one jump! Well... there was one jump that almost got missed, but we made it, it wasn't pretty but we got over it! So the plan is to do the jumper show on Thursday and just do the cross rail class... and maybe the 2-2'3 course and then make my final decision to do the 2 phase at flatlands on July 1st. EEEKKK! I'm so excited that I actually have a chance to show!!!!!

Jump ride

I jumped Mr. Mason yesterday and he was amazing! We jumped 2' maybe? He was amazing! I'm having a lesson with Lisa Sunday and going to jump, and if that goes well I'm going to do the jumper show on Thursday!!! EEKK! I'm so excited! Thursday was the first time I actually had fun jumping my own horse! What a great feeling!

Training ride

Lisa rode Mason today. Lisa doesnt even trot a full circle yet and shes already telling me shes in love with him! Hearing that made me feel good. She ended up jumping the stadium course and she had a blast!!!!! I was kinda bummed that I didnt get to jump him but I am glad she got to sit on him and have fun. She needs a good ride.

It sounds like I am going to Flatlands in July! I am super excited! I might try to convince her to let me do a mini cross rail stadium course and possibly cross country. We'll see.

Erin had a saddle fitter come out for a couple of people today. Great news! The saddle fitter said he is able to fix my pessoa saddle! So I can keep that which I am super excited about! Now I just need to find a dressage saddle. The guy had one but I wasn't in love with it. It fit Mason pretty well but it didnt fit me. I gotta talk to mom and see how much I can pay for a saddle.

Out for a hack

Yesterday I rode quickly because we had a huge ride on Thursday and also because I went to the beach. We did a quick warm up in the ring then went out back to the cross country course. Mason was so good and brave!!! Not one spook, he was very focused on what was around him. Not to mention he could have cared less that he was leaving the barn and all his friends! Knowing he's brave will force me to be brave, relax, and trust my pony more!

This weekend is Valinor's USEA show. So he got the day off. Horses were in during the day and when I took him out at the end of the day he was awesome! Until a tractor came by and spooked him, I cant blame him since the tractor/roller was SUPER loud, would have spooked me as well if I didn't know it was coming.

I hope I can hop on him quickly tomorrow. Monday either I or Lisa is going to ride, and I'm crossing my fingers he gets to go do stadium and cross country! How fun would that be?!

Past rides**

I knew this whole blogging everyday would end sooner or later.
I'l try to recap all I can.
Monday - I cant remember what I did
Tuesday- Rode inside because the weather was crappy out. I tried to get both rides done before Erin started teaching in the indoor. My ride was going well until Erin came in with a group lesson. Of course they were jumping. So that was a disaster in itself. It was going perfectly until they started jumping. I was pissed off which didnt help Mason. Thankfully Kelly came to the door and I started talking to her. I decide to go outside and finish my ride. It went pretty well considering it was cold, windy, everyone was inside, and Jack was on the tractor. We did one quick canter circle both ways and called it quits. At the start of the driveway Mason started to trot back to the barn. I really hope this doesnt mean he's becoming herd bound again. I need to get him out to the back fields ASAP!!
Wednesday - Mason unfortnitly got the day off since Pokita was leaving Thursday
Thursday - Pokita left in the AM. At the moment I'm doing very well. When they came to get her? Well that another story I rather not live through again. Lets just say I started to cry in front of Jack! He's seen it all! Totally shit faced, crying, falling into jumps, yep... At times I feel like I'm a 5th daughter to him. Anyways, as much as I fought with that mare I will always love her, I never realized how much I really loved her until I saw her leave today... I feel the tears coming so I'm just going to stop talking about this and start talking about my ride on Mace today.
Thursday - After my horse leaving, I talked to Jack for awhile. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't there. Then I did a little show prep, since I had a scheduled lesson at 6 I went home around 3 to rest and get ready for my lesson. Of course Lisa texted me saying she cant come down. I'm a little glad she didnt teach me because I had a great ride towards the middle and end. The beginning we were running through the stubben bit.... fun stuff! There were polls on the ground so I worked on having him TROT over the jumps like they werent there. That took some work but we finally got it. I decided that since the rest of our flat warm up was good, and I had a good canter we would canter over some polls. He had no problem cantering over them like they weren't even there. I'll have to ask Lisa what that is about, cantering over polls like its noting, but cant control trotting over them. Riding him made me feel good thankfully! I did a lot of canter work, both of us were tired at the end. Riding for a long time was partly because Sarah was feeding and I didnt want to talk to her about Pokita leaving, especially since I was just talking to her in the AM.

My friendship has really changed since she got that boyfriend. I need to find new friends who are MY age!!! These are the new people I hang out with. Sarah, Lisas student who is 18, Kelly 16, Kara 17, and I try to be friends with Alison who is 14-15? Not too sure how old she is. How can I forget about Martha and Gail who are what in their 40-50s. I started to be friends with Mindie and Amy but they are weird!! Sadly they are the only ones who are my age! Ugh!!! Every now and again I will hang out with Emily who is 18-19 and Tayla who's 18 but leaving for school in NC in June or July :( Damn I need to find new friends and a boyfriend!!!!!

Totally went off topic with this post, but whatever.
I have a lesson tomorrow with Lisa so I'll try to post about that since this weekend is the show and I doubt I'll be riding. Going to try to hide out on Sunday, we'll see how that goes. First time in a long time I don't help/ride at a USEA show. I guess its a new ME!

Lesson

I had a nice lesson yesterday with Mason. We were working on prompt transitions and riding a true 20 meter circle in the middle of the ring without running into walls. It was easier said than done. All in all he was very good!

I didn't have much time to ride Pokita so I hopped on her bareback. Wow, what a good pony she was! There were some small cavaletti jumps set up in the indoor. For some dumb reason I decided to pop over them, just at the trot. I had soooo much fun!!! Was it pretty? No of course not but it was a ton of fun! Then I decided to try to canter over them. Wow that was even uglier, but I stayed on! I wish I tried to jump and ride bareback a lot more.

Today both horses got the day off. For some reason I just have no energy today. Maybe its from all of the haying I did on Friday. Who knows.

Jump Ride

Last night was the jumper show, so all of the jumps were up. Thankfully Erin had a lesson with Marinade and she jumped Cozmo so almost all the jumps were put down low at cross rails.

We had a nice warm up and then I decided to try my luck at jumping, it took us a few minutes to figure each other out since this was legit my 4th time jumping him ever. He was a bit of a speed demon going to the right and he was a DREAM going to the left. He got a little quick going down a line but noting too bad.

Today was the first time I felt 100% comfortable having Mason very very forward and kind of running away from me. Its nice to know that he isn't going to buck me off... at least right now anyways. I felt so good jumping him today I wanted to do the green flower box with a rail on top which made it at least 2'3, but I decided not to because I thought I was holding too much and I need someone to be there to tell me what to do, I don't want to mess the poor guy up too much!

I have a lesson with Lisa tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.

Day off

Mason got the day off today. My plan was to just go on a trail ride with him but after riding Pokita I got a text from Tayla saying she's down here in Plymouth and asked if I wanted to go to the beach. I decided to give Mason the day off. A much needed day off.

I tried some boots on Mason the other day. I need a lot of new things :/ My equifit boots fit him but those are just for show. In other words, I need schooling woof open front since I have the hinds from Pokita, front and hind show and schooling cross country boots along with a smaller sized bell boots.

Quick ride

Today was just a quick ride, partly because it was late and also I tried on a new saddle. I went to the upper barn to grab Lisa's but that doesn't fit Mr. Mason. Martha was at the barn pretty late which I was surprised about, but she offered to let me borrow her saddle. It fit Mason pretty well so I just rode in it. Lets just say I'm going to have a hard time flatting in a dressage saddle with him, lol. I was just bouncing all around on his back, poor guy!

The ring was super dusty and deep, yet another reason to keep it quick. I need to figure out a way to get him in shape. I don't remember if I wrote this yesterday or not but I have come to the conclusion that when Mason gets tired to gets heavy and more forward. I can be totally wrong, who knows, I'll just have to wait to talk to Lisa hopefully this weekend and have her give me her thoughts.

Tomorrow I'm just going to go for a hack, no trotting. Especially since Pokita is getting her feet done in the AM, and the jumper show is in the PM. I have a feeling I'll be setting the course up. UGH! Speaking of Pokita, I had such an amazing ride on her today! I decided to just flat out on the hunt course because its so dusty and deep in the sand ring. She was amazing!!! There were moments where she was SUPER light and carrying herself! I was so proud!!! We ended up just trotting up and down some of the mini hills just to get out and do something different, and she was perfect!!! Betsy and Alison were there late as well riding Beacon, Devon, and their two. I was half way done with my ride when Pokita got distracted because Betsy and Alison were walking horses out to the ring. Coming downhill she "spooked" and that pissed me off so I made her back up, up the hill. But I took a breath and decided not to punish her and we finished on a nice note. I took her for a quick hack and she was awesome again! Still a bit worried that she was going away from the barn but I'm not going to work on her staying calm and not caring since shes leaving in a month. I have other things I need to work on with my new guy.

Yesterdays ride

Yesterday was just gross out! It was hot, humid, sunny, and sticky! Not a good mix at all. I rode inside because erin was lunging Ivy and I hate riding wherever Erin is. My ride started out fine but it started to go down hill. My theory is that he is out of shape and the only way he knows how to deal with it is to go more forward. I need a lesson with Lisa ASAP.

I talked to Erin yesterday, she was asking me how my ride was and I told her, she didnt sound too impressed. She had the attiude like, "I told you not to get a green horse" Whatever, I'm just ignoring her.

TB comes out

Yesterday was Mason's first day off since I got him. He almost got today off as well but I couldn't stand not seeing him for 2 days so I went to the barn and rode.

My ride on Mace was rather... well... interesting. For some reason I decided to try my nubby spurs on him to get a more prompt up transition. Everything was going well until we took a break. When I started back up things just changed. Mace was just full of himself, not bad but he was just all go go go, and very heavy. Not sure what that was about. I guess I did have a lot of things against me. He got yesterday off, and I tried spurs. Courtney has ridden him in spurs before so I know this wasn't the first time he was ridden in spurs.

After a slight battle I decided I didn't want to fight anymore and lunged to get some more of that energy out. I had no idea if Mason was ever lunged but for some reason assumed he knew the basics of lunging because he was on the track. Again, i don't know why. Mace was awesome on the lunge! For the first time I actually got to see how he moved, he's FANCY!!! I cant wait to have Lisa sit on him and really see how he moves! Anyways, going back on lunging, the poor pony was tired even before I started to lunge him, so tomorrow will be interesting. I wonder how he will be. My plan is to jump him but I just watched the weather and its suppose to be really nice out. Since there are no jumps outside I'll be stuck inside. If I do end up jumping I'm definitely going to go out back to get him out there seeing new things.

I just bought 2 new halters for Mason, I cant wait to see and use them! Tomorrow my plan is to figure out what fits and what doesn't, I gotta start selling some tack since I need new tack! Yay and ugh at the same time lol

Lesson with Lisa

I had a great ride with Lisa yesterday. She thinks Mason is adorable and fancy! Who can blame her? lol. We were working on much needed up and down transitions. It was a bit harder than usual because Mason was pretty tired. I guess he never really got worked 6 days a week!

Exciting news! Lisa mentioned to me that she is taking Marissa and Rocky to Flatlands 3 phase schooling show on July 1st. If Lisa doesn't take Jericho she said I can come! I'm super excited I actually might be able to show off farm this summer! But I'm not going to get my hopes up yet. Also I should mention to her that Flatlands fills up super fast and opening date is next week!

So after my lesson Kate, Finn, Mason and I went on a little hack. It was nice to get Mason out in the open with another horse. Soon I'm going to go out back by myself and see how he is.

There is a jumper show this Thursday and I'm thinking about doing it, crazy right?! Well I'll only do it if I can get a QUICK trot to canter transition and if I jump at least once before Thursday at a regular height. I don't want to go out in the show ring chasing Mason into the canter in front of everyone! I'll only be able to do 1 class since the price is now $20 per class! So my plan IF I go show is do either 2' or 2'3. I have a feeling I'm going to help set up so I can see what the course looks like, if its inviting and easy I'll try it. Of course I'll have to do the stuff I said above first. Gotta show off my new pony at some point!

Today is Mason's first day off. In 4 hours I'll have had Mason for one week! Crazy how time flies!

Tired Pony

Mason was extremely tired today. He kept burying his down in his chest and getting really heavy. He also as having a tough time doing trot to canter transitions, which is hard for us in general but it seems harder today. Erin was out in the field riding Devon, and there were times where she was being a witch, Mason didn't event bat an eye when she was rearing up! What a great feeling knowing I have a horse who couldn't care less! After a long walking break... waiting for Erin and Devon to leave. I decided to just trot over the 2 little cross rails that were outside, he was awesome! After my ride I took Mason out for a quick hack out on the hunt course, he was a bit looky but he didn't spook at anything. Can't wait to see how he is out in the back fields!

I have my first lesson with Lisa tomorrow!

Hidden talent

I just had the most amazing flat ride on Mason today! I don't know what happened but everything just clicked!!! My plan was to jump today but a quick flat warm up didn't happen, go figure right?

I was working on up transitions, Julie suggested I should do some to figure him out. I first started walking him when he would start to get heavy. After maybe 3-4 down transitions from trot to walk going both ways he was so light and balanced!

Today I was playing around with him and found he can extend his trot!!! Hello first level dressage! For first level dressage you need to extend your trot and canter. I already knew he could extend his canter because I played around with it when I first met him. I just need to work on the prompt trot to canter transition. I just need to figure out how to ask him correctly. Once I figure that out I'll be able to go to a dressage show in no time... that is if I can get someone to trailer me. I have no worries that he will be herd bound! Eek, I'm just so excited that I have an amazing horse!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to jump. I'm a little worried about jumping him by myself because he is so green jumping I don't want to mess him up. I guess the only way to teach him, and me, to jump is just do a trail and error. I already know he doesn't get pissed like Miss Pokita if I miss the distance and pop him in the mouth. Did I mention he is AMAZING?!

First ride outside

I'm too tired to write too much, but I had my first ride outside today. Mason was amazing! I am having so much fun on him. I walked him outside to mount up from the mounting block because Alison was in the ring having a lesson and the gate was closed. I decided to just hop on Mason and not walk around to show him the ring, a little test to see what he would do. He was amazing of course! He wasn't very focused on me at the beginning, especially seeing Beacon and Slick on the grass. That was very distracting, lol. Otherwise he was good. Not to mention that it was raining all day yesterday so the ring was really soupy. Mason wasn't even bothered by the bad footing in the ring. What a good boy!
Erin saw me on Mason for the first time today. It was a little awkward to be truthful, but I'm just going to have to learn to deal with it.

After I got off I saw Erin and she was asking me what my plans are with Mason. I'm not really sure what answer she wanted me to say. Thinking back on it now i should have said 'just to have fun on him'. I also think she wants me to show. This is going to sound horrible I know, and I'll most likely regret it but hey, no one is reading these blogs but me... for now. I think she wants me to show so I will have to pay her for lessons, coaching, and trailering. Well news flash Erin, I've had my share showing. Yes Mason may be able to go out and show next weekend but I am not ready to show. My goal is not to show, would it be nice to show off my new man? Yes it would, but I am not focused on showing. I am focused on having a good time and relationship with my horse. I agree with Lisa, Valinor Farm has become a really big show barn. I would say 75-80% of the people riding and boarding there are show focused. Whatever happened to just enjoying your horse? This all might be coming from me taking a year off from showing because of Pokita but I don't get it.

Going on a rant here! I don't get why Erin doesnt understand why I am not so show focused. If I was so show focused I would get a totally made horse. I am not afraid of showing, I just learned that there is a lot more than showing. Pokita has taught me this. You pay hundreds of dollars to enter a show to what, ride for 30 minutes max? I don't even pay half of that for a lesson and I get an hours worth of riding, with Lisa at least :)

Ugh! I need to stop this rant, my eyes are bugging out of my head. Will try to post tomorrow....

One more thing. Today when I went to go get Mason from his paddock he came right up to the gate, I didnt even have to go get him. Not sure if he is figuring out who I am or if he is just that friendly with everyone.

Oh, Dana came down to the lower barn today while I was tacking up and she got to meet Mason. She is in love with him! Who wouldn't love that puppy dog personality?

First Lesson

I had my first lesson on Mason tonight with Julie. What an amazing horse I have!! He was perfect! I really got to experience his canter, and what a couch he is!!! I could canter him all day long! Its interesting, he is better bending to the right at the walk and trot but better bending at the canter. I would have thought since he raced he would bend easily to the left, but it makes sense that he bends easier to the left at the canter I guess.

I got to pop over some jumps tonight, and he was awesome, a little quick but its such an amazing feeling knowing if I get left behind or pop up too soon I don't have to worry about him bucking. Its going to take some getting use to. He's so different yet a lot like Pokita.

Julie thinks I'll be able to go show in no time! Who would have thought I would have the chance to show this summer?! Yes I may be able to go show but I want to take it really slow. Don't want to have a couple of bad show rides and then go backwards with my riding like what happened with Pokita and I. Going to take it really slow with him. My current goal is to do the dressage show at Valinor in October. Maybe just maybe in the mean time I'll try to do a jumper show just to get out there and show off my new baby!

I'm still so excited I found my dream horse! I couldn't have asked for a better horse. Mason is so sound a well educated at the age of 6! With time he will get even better! I can't wait!!

All for now

First Ride

I always joked to Sarah that if my pessoa saddle doesn't fit my future new horse I'll cry. Well today I tried on my pessoa and what do you know, it doesn't fit. Tried my Kieffer on my boy and that didn't even come close to fitting, I had a feeling it wouldn't fit since its a medium/wide tree. So I am slowly in the market for both a jump and a dressage saddle. I'm hoping once Mason fills out my pessoa will fit because its brand new! I bought it in August of last year.

I couldn't have asked for a better first ride on Mason today. Sarah was riding Riff, and Kate and her mom were trying to see if Finn has any potential to be a therapeutic horse. Not sure if that went very well. Anyways, I did a quick walk, trot, canter. Mainly walking and trotting today. I want to take it really slow with him, there is no need to rush. Considering I had a jointed eggbutt in his mouth he was really good! I ordered 2 different double jointed loose rings from smartpak on Sunday so they should be here by tomorrow night.

Its crazy having everyone come up to me and tell me how cute my little Mason is, its not crazy that people think he's cute, because he is adorable! The thing that is crazy is that I never ever thought I would have my own horse! Its still so unreal that he is mine, all mine! I love him already! I will admit, I had a semi panic attack today riding him. My attack was that I have a horse who is too green, and since he is 16.1 hh he's going to have some big movements. I hope my panic attack will go away once I get a few lessons in. Speaking of lessons, I have a lesson with Julie Kelly tomorrow night. I'm excited to have one on my new guy, I don't want to do too much partly because I want to take it slow with him and also I have the eggbutt in. Call me crazy but I want him to get use to the eggbutt.

Going back on my rides. Today I rode Mason first, mainly because everyone wanted to see me on him, I knew it was going to be a quick ride, and I'm trying to switch who gets ridden first, Pokita or Mason. Since I'm going to ride Pokita tomorrow first with Julie I thought I would ride Mason first today.

I think Miss Pokita is jealous, today she saw me drive up and go straight over to Masons paddock and talk to him, I didn't even go near Pokita's. I might be totally over thinking this but today when I was grooming Pokita, she wasn't so lovey dovey with me like she usually is. I will admit I am taking a new interest to Mason but I really am not trying to. I love Pokita, even on our bad days. Hopefully she will come to terms with Mason.

All for now, I'll write how my lesson goes with Julie tomorrow.

My boy arrives

Mason just arrived at Valinor around 10:30 tonight! So happy to finally see him again! He's going to need a lot of TLC. He's an underweight TB of course. I thought I would be able to keep him on pellets but once I saw him come off the trailer and saw his ribs I knew that wasn't going to happen. So he's going on LS feed for about a month at least. I also thought I would be able to get some weight gain sample supplements from smartpak but I can't wait, my baby is too skinny. Crossing my fingers he will like powder, he should since I'm going to give him 4 qts AM and PM.

First ride owning him tomorrow! Will post all about it.

Details

Tomorrow my new horse arrives at Valinor Farm.
Fleet du Masion aka Mason is a 2006 chestnut OTTB. He has 4 white socks and a blaze. Mason came from Courtney Cooper's training/sales barn in Nottingham, PA. Photos coming soon.