# Most Definitely Fantastic - Sorrel's Training Journal



## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

So I'm really frustrated. I haven't been able to ride since Monday, where I normally ride every weekday. I am leaving for Portland in the morning and will be gone until Sunday which will be annoying, because that means the horses will have a week off and they tend to get a little hot.

Oh well, hoping for the best.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

Who did you race Selena against? I'm so curious now lol....when I was on CHSET it was Stockseat, not western horsemanship. How come your not doing more team events with her? No drill?


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

It's one of the girls who rides at Toni's...if you PM me on facebook I'll tell you but I don't want to say her name on an open forum just in case she doesn't want me to! Lolol

Yeah they changed it last year to Western Horsemanship. :lol:

Andd that's because my team only has two people....Lol


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

Oh really? Dang, what team are you on?


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Butte Falls! We didn't have a team my freshman year and I lived too far away to economically co-op, so I made my own! We had three our first year, only me last year, and we _had_ four at the beginning of this year but...Teenage drama killed it. LOL


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

haha, you motivated the start of butte falls eq team? That's awesome.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Yeah...I don't know if it's going to exist after I graduate though, the other girl on the team is a senior too. It's expensive and not a lot of people up there are serious enough to put in the time...


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

That's too bad  It really is a great program. And too bad you can't ride on another team!! We had a girl from Saint Mary's ride on our team. You would've had SO much fun on a bigger team with more to do. Did you ever get to do drill or any of the other team events? 
I had the opposite problem my first two years. Crater's team was so big it was hard to get any help!! lol


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I have done all the team events except canadian flags and drill...I was kinda upset about the drill part but I got a little bit of drill experience elsewhere so I'll live. lol


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

But those are both awesomely fun!!!


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Yeah so every person has told me...LOL. But there's literally no way to co-op so it's either this or don't compete at all.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

boo!!  thats stinks. You should do it for fun one day  you could at least get away with canadian flags


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

We've done some strictly drill practices at TLM before, it was a lot of fun. We've ran canadian flags too, haha. I was the only one short enough to the ground on Selena to get it. :rofl:


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I guess I could probably update huh?


Well, the first meet is this weekend.

Ruger will not be competing.

Selena has been working excellent patterns and pieces at home but occasionally she'll get frazzled in the big arena we show in so I'm hoping she keeps her cool. I am also letting my other team mate run her in Figure 8 and Poles, so that'll be interesting. I finally got her to find Selena's gas pedal, aka Mach 5, but the turning still eludes her....So it'll be interesting to say the least. 

I'm still not confident that I've fixed the problem of Selena fizzling between the first and second barrel either, but we'll see on that as well. I'm going to definitely be using the crop or over and under when we get down there. Going into the first barrel and coming out of the second she really hauls, it's just between the first two she gets stuck. Also keyhole. So long as she keeps focused she should absolutely smoke it. You'd think it would be easy, but it tends to not be on a pushy horse like her.

Destiny is doing well but Brittney is not keeping up with her like she should. There's no way she's going to get the counter canter or flying change down in time (That our western horsemanship pattern requires) even though the mare knows how to do it. I'm a little worried about it but oh well.

Wish us luck guys, may or may not update before the weekend.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

Good luck! Just have fun and get videos


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Aright guys so back from meet #1

First off I just want to acknowledge that I am VERY proud of Selena. Her past experiences have been very inconsistent, one minute she does great the next she doesn't, fine in the warmup awful in the arena, but this time it really all just came together and flowed.

*Working Rancher* was an awesome way to start the day. She was working really good in the warmup so I went in and she just worked. I don't even know what to say. The pattern was simple enough.

http://www.ohset.com/patterns/scoreworkranch.pdf

She came flying in like a freight train to be honest. The judge barely had time to nod because I knew she was coming in and I wanted to let her go before she got too worked up. I let her come in like a rundown, and for a second I thought she might not stop O.O But I said whoa and didn't even have to touch her mouth, she just planted her butt and slid...It felt awesome. Awesome rollback, awesome circle with a beautiful stop after I threw my rope. She relaxed, opened the gate smoothly, had some HYPER cows which I expected her to short circuit but she just remained calm while we cut out our two, attentive, tracking them all the way like a pro.

Dragging the log though, that was our main issue. I took the rope and dallied, was ready to go, start walking and hit the end of the rope...and suddenly we aren't moving. Oh my GOD was that log heavy! Poor Selena was really unsure about that one. I did my best to help her. We had drug logs before but that was way heavier than it should of been, even people on more experienced and larger horses had one hell of a time with it. We ended up dragging it in too small a loop and almost tipping the barrel, having to back her out of the bales and pull it farther away then back in, but we still scored a 5 for the effort. Next time we know and we'll be prepared, I'm just glad I wasn't the only one who had trouble with it. 

We placed 4th, which isn't a top 3 obviously but it still puts me in a good position if I can get her used to pulling heavier things to get better for next time.

*Western Horsemanship* scared the living daylights out of me. I get in there, having not looked at the dimensions for the pattern, and it. was. tiny. I knew Selena could handle it but there was NO room for error. In this one she did get a little chargey and pushy, but we nailed the circles and flying change and one of only a few who got a flawless counter canter. I placed fifth, with legitimately only five points between first and fifth. That's the smallest number possible...And I know we can do better. I'll have to push a little more for higher placings these next two meets if I want to go to state in it but I don't think we'll have too much of a problem.

http://www.ohset.com/patterns/scorehorseman.pdf

*Reining* was FABULOUS! Her spins were smooth, the judge actually told me they were some of the best spins she'd ever seen. She DID try and pick up the wrong lead, but she quite literally only made it half a stride before I fixed it. Don't even think the judge noticed to be honest. Circles were perfect, loose rein, relaxed, very slow and then VERY fast. She felt so good we hauled butt in our large fast circles. She came right back down though with no effort on my part, flawless changes, good stops, nice rollbacks, backup could have used a little more energy but hey that's her weakest point. Paced second!

I don't even want to talk about barrels or keyhole. :rofl: I knew she was going to throw a fit as soon as I pulled her out of her stall that morning. I think she was sore from the day before actually, but she stalled out of the first barrel and jumped up and my stirrups went out the window! O.O Ran the rest with one hand on the horn and barely made it out alive when she decided to fire like a rocket all of the sudden.

Keyhole would of been great except I didn't pull my head out of my *** long enough to trust her. I sat way too early, not trusting her to rate, and sure enough she rated and turn...right over the neck of the painted line and ran it over. No time for me. :/ But she did her job and listened to me, I just have to focus next time.

Biwrangle was awesome, Selena ran smokin' but my only partner option was Brittney whose horse is old and not as far along, and she's not an experienced rider so we got slowed down. It's okay though, we were still 13th, and it was fun anyway just letting my pony run.

Oh and funny story about team penning.

We went on ahead and did it even though there was only two of us and we had so much fun. :rofl: Selena had a hay day. The cows were nuts and there was no way we were getting any, so at the 30 second buzzer I just took a random cow and worked it like a cowhorse. :lol: :lol:

Hey, Selena doesn't get to play with cows that often and I haven't gotten to work a cow like that in almost two years! :lol: It was so much fun. I had time to circle the cow both directions before the buzzer told us to get out of the arena.  The gate people and the crowd all thought it was funny, and it gave my horse a lot of time to play. We did almost get two cows, but Selena overshot the first one and the second one Selena stayed right up on it but we were haulin' butt and Brittney just didn't get to the other side of the pen fast enough and the cow ran right out. That's okay though, it was so much fun just to go and play and let my horse do what she was meant to do.

If I had the resources, Selena would quit everything else and become a reined cowhorse. I mean, really, that is her talent and her forte. With very little exposure she has whipped out some major moves and has just a ton of cow in her.

I can't wait until next month when we get to do this all again. :lol: I'll put up some pics soon.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

I'm soo glad you guys had fun I'm a little jealous. I never did working rancher. But we also never had cows to sort! Looking back, it looks like such a fun event!!!! Don't stress too much about your placings, other people will make mistakes in the next two meets. You still have a great shot at going to state!!


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I'm really confident that I'll at least go in reining, there aren't a lot of strong reiners this year and Selena is super solid and correct. I'm going to shoot for two events at least, but hopefully three.

Oh and I'm sitting second for versatility right now with two timed events and three performance. Hoping I can clean up the timed events and get that award for first.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

We weren't super good at keeping videos this year. Mom still doesn't know how to work a camera. I've got a few more but I need to cut out some of the dark or irrelevant parts and upload them.

Here's our warmup before the games though.






Now picture time:

Warming up before grand entry. Selena was being a real pill, acting like she'd never carried a flag before.










Putting the "green yarn monster" on Selena's head.










Lol after finding out our headstall was actually PONY SIZED! O.O Oh lord we are so lucky we ordered more and the extra one was actually horse sized and had a bit on it already...five minutes before we started o.o



















Brittney getting ready on Destiny










Warmup again




























Our trots were almost directly in sync o.o










In the line at grand entry










At the games Saturday night



















Selena snuggling Destiny




























More to come in a second


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Brittney and Destiny










Brittney and Destiny, with a blur of a Selena lol










Brittney and Destiny










These ones are blurry, Mom's hand isn't that good sometimes, but loping Selena










Getting ready to turn that cone. ^^



















Lettin' her go.



















Making friends, and finding Selena's "twinsy" :lol:










Twinsy butts










Andd that's all because we're lame and didn't get good pictures :lol: Next time we'll get better ones.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

Those are so cute! You guys were gaming saturday night? Geesh, they must have changed up the day order too! Looks like fun, that bay could totally pass as her twinsy! Oh, and I'm super excited for you. I hope you get versatility! That would be awesome! Didn't you say one of your friends was gonna do poles on her? How'd that go?


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Lol no we didn't do gaming, but we did the athlete games like the musical ribbons and egg and spoon race just for fun...I don't know how recent of a development those games are or if you had them when you were competing or not! LOL. Friday is drill, driving, hunt seat eq over fences, and saddle seat now with grand entry. Saturday is the rest of the performance classes and the games, then sunday is the gaming.

Yeahh we decided to not let her use Selena because it was getting a little painful to watch her ride o.o Selena is just way too much horse for her.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

WHAAAATTTT!!! heck no we didn't have games like that!! Gosh that was fun I'll bet! 
Probably a good idea on not letting her run Selena. Don't want either to get hurt or mentally scarred lol


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Yep it's a lot of fun! I got into a real race with a girl from South over the last ribbon when we played musical ribbons (Like musical chairs)

We actually came running into it together almost collided but I got the ribbon, then Selena was so jiggy from running that she jumped sideways away from it and we had to run around the arena AGAIN. Did the exact same thing, almost slid into each other, but this time the other girl won. Dang it  Next time. At the third meet we even do games bareback. :lol:










My sophomore year we did the dollar bill race bareback and I won for $50 :lol: :lol:


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Am I the only one who hates it when you show your horse to a potential buyer, but the buyer doesn't even show up in boots to ride in? >.>


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

Exact same thing happened to a friend of mine once. She was less then happy...


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

So Selena hurt herself the other day but she seems to be better, so I'm going to ride her tomorrow.

On a side note I borrowed a nice cowhorse saddle from my friend Desiree and well...The side rings for the cinch hang down so low, even on pony cinch, off billet wrapped around twice, the latigo when I wrapped it around STILL had an estimate four inch roll o.o /cries/ My pony is so little. I have to go buy her another cinch now otherwise I can't ride in it.

I rode Destiny when Selena got hurt and she did super well. Much better turns, loping her straight lines so much more confidently, getting her all-rights and all-lefts down well. I'm going to talk to Brittney about taking her to the left barrel first, because she turns so much better to the right. She feels super good when I ride her but of course, we need to get Brittney trained up.

Every now and then too I've started riding a horse named Lila who is really frustrating me. She's a sweet mare but she is so hard headed, it's hard to teach her. She's green, kinda sorta knows what legs are, but my biggest pet peeve with her is that I CANNOT get her to soften her face. She is not in pain. She is being difficult. I have tried halter, snaffle, bosal, sidepull, holding steady, bumping more...Nothing she responds to. I'm going to have my trainer watch me with her because it's really getting on my nerves. Everytime I ask her to do anything, she braces up and has a hissy fit. I've checked her for soreness, checking saddle fit, checked teeth, she's been chiro'd...and once you get past this phase she's just fine, but getting through it is a NIGHTMARE, and if I can't get her softening to the bridle then she's going to keep bracing on me. Going to try a martingale for a little while and see what happens.

Oh and Ruger is on layoff right now. He's too sore. However, we're going to try getting Jester into some light riding since he got chiro'd and he isn't sore anymore. Hasn't been ridden in awhile so we'll see how this goes.


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## Army wife (Apr 29, 2012)

Patience, patience, patience. I want to hear what your trainers solution was for Lila. Think it could have anything to do with season/mare/heat cycles?


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

I don't think so...She's just so stubborn. I've not had a problem with colts flat out REFUSING to soften their face like that. Some have been difficult but this is just ridiculous. I was trying very hard to avoid using anything like a martingale, side reins, draw reins etc but I'm thinking that's going to be the way to go. She's like this constantly and no one who has seen her can find a reason for it. I think it doesn't help that her owner deliberately gives up too when she doesn't soften.


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## SorrelHorse (Apr 9, 2009)

Finally just broke down and put Lila in a german martingale. She's getting it pretty fast now. I think she just learned she could avoid the pressure if she stuck her head COMPLETELY upside down.

Selena is really starting to find a new gear now. We ran at the JCHA gymkhana on Sunday and she was SMOKIN'. Still a couple little bobbles (Bowed off a barrel and a pole, but it was my fault, I didn't trust her and held her off) but we had the best biwrangle run we've ever had, running neck and neck with the big girls, and she went in the gate by herself like a big kid every time :lol: No refusals or anything.

They are still working on uploading pictures from the gymkhana but I'm trying to decide which ones I want, and also how little this thing looks next to the barrels...:rofl:



















I really like this one, she really is starting to power out of these.










I still consider her semi-green to the whole "gaming" thing. She hasn't had time to really adjust to going fast, and while she holds her own, she's inconsistent, and needs to get hauled more and just settle into herself and relax. She's already made vast improvements.


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