# The Long Road Back: A Barrel Racer's Story



## anndankev (Aug 9, 2010)

...comparing apples and...fruitcake ...

lol


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

anndankev said:


> ...comparing apples and...fruitcake ...
> 
> lol


Apples and oranges is just too cliche :wink:. And he is a little fruitcake some days.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Today's ride was fabulous! I started with Renegade this time, so Mis Jet had tying practice while we worked. I pay for two hours of arena time and normally I split it with an hour for each horse. However Renegade took three-quarters of an hour to calm down and start moving correctly on the lunge so I ended up going over and paying for extra time, but it was so worth it. Once I got him under saddle he did much better than yesterday. We still didn't go past a jog, but I didn't want to push it. He was moving fairly correctly and far less giraffe-like than he is in the habit of doing. We did _lots_ of jogging because wet saddle pads is the best way to get his brain working again. I ended up riding for an hour, bring Renegade's total work time to 1hr 45min. It was very productive. 

Moving on the Mis Jet, the sneaky little ****** proved that she knows exactly what I am asking for when I use my seat to cue her to stop. Her progress on stopping off my seat had stalled last summer, but I came at it with a new approach. Rather than constantly practicing stopping, I decided to practice moving forward. This is only the fourth time (to my knowledge) that she has ever been loped under saddle ever and the second time since coming back from the accident, so she definitely needs some miles. She was so confused why I was constantly telling her to go forward without stopping. We loped, and we loped, and we loped some more, and just when she thought her poor little legs were going to fall off...you guessed it, we loped some more. She kept trying to be a drama queen and whine and fuss "I can't do this, it haaaard". But she had a thorough warm-up of stretching and lateral work at the walk and lots of brisk jogging, so she was fine. She wasn't even completely covered in sweat by the time I was done, the little liar. Of course she decided to test out just how good my seat was with several stop-and-ducks and random hairpin turns, but I prevailed! :twisted: On the topic of seat, I was so proud of myself because I never once gripped with any part of my leg and I stayed with her through the greenie antics that probably would have unseated me a year ago. How is it that over seven months off actually _improved _my seat? :lol: Anyway, all told we did close to a half hour of loping in three ten minute intervals with stretching at the jog and lateral work in between. By the end of the session she was hunting the stop and I was able to stop her on a draped rein from a brisk lope on just my seat. I nearly died with pride and happiness on the spot.  She got a little over an hour worked with the warm-up and cool down. 

I'm gonna work with her in the arena another time or so but I think she's about ready to hit the trails. The biggest thing she needs right now is miles, especially at the lope. Once I get some more miles solidly under her feet on the trails I'll go back to the arena and start working on even more lateral work and intricate stuff. Hopefully by then I will have found a dressage trainer who is willing to work out some sort of working student arrangement for the summer. *sigh* The struggles of adulthood. Friggen internships, figgen seniors taking all the internships, stupid stupid money, why must you desert me so? :-( I miss the days where mom and dad paid for everything...wait...no I don't, because then I had no say. Why must being an adult be so hard? :-| Great, now I've made myself depressed. And on that note, I must bid you all adieu. Till next time my dears! 

Edit: There are videos of Mis Jet working but I don't have them on my computer yet. I will try to get some clips up tomorrow.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

I have been so busy I only just got around to getting those clips I promised. The video has loping clips from our third and fourth rides back (fifth and sixth times respectively every loping under saddle for her). Please ignore my chicken wings . It's a bad habit that I thought I was rid of, but apparently it snuck back. Admire the horse please, not the rider :lol:.
https://youtu.be/YAGscBKGhUg


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

I had a really long post typed out but my computer crashed and lost it. :evil:

Summary: Sunday April 19 I took Mis Jet on a "trail ride" around the property. She did ok but not fantastic. 

This past weekend I took Renegade up to the arena by himself. It was his first time in the outdoor. He was a complete squirrel for the first while then he settled down. It was his first time riding in the chambon (though he was lunged quite a bit in it) and it worked like a charm. 

The next day I took Renegade and Mis Jet up to the arena. Renegade did fantastic but Mis Jet was a terror. And when I say terror, I actually mean acting like a normal greenie with barely more than 30 days, which she is. She just spoils me too much. But we got through it. I finally got her to soften a little and then quit on an ok note. I only figured out after I took the bit out that it was the wrong one.  I was using the d-ring with only a single joint rather than her d-ring with a double joint and a copper roller. Mystery solved.

Here is a video of pasture antics and some lovely photos so you can get to know everyone. 

The dark BAB mare is GBH Mis Jet Cashwood "Mis Jet"/"Moose" (coming 7-year-old 14.3hh AQHA).
The buckskin/brownskin gelding is Hesa Classy Renegade "Renegade" (coming 8-year-old 14.2hh IBHA/ABRA).
The light bay gelding is Lena's Texas Storm "Tex" (coming 8-year-old 15hh APHA).
The little flaxen chestnut gelding is Starlight (coming 15-year-old 10.1 hh either shetland or welsh mountain). 

Starlight








From left to right: Mis Jet, Starlight, Renegade.








From left to right: Renegade, Starlight, Mis Jet








Renegade








Mis Jet








From left to right: Mis Jet, Tex, Renegade








Tex with a Renegade butt photo bomb








Foreground: Starlight - Background: Mis Jet








Tex








See video for more Pasture Antics.

Yes, I know they have halters on, but this was supervised play time. I don't leave them on when I'm not there. 

And please excuse the crappy temporary fencing. We're waiting for the grass to finish coming in before we put up the new pastures. This is just a temporary sacrifice area.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

*I finally did it...*

I finally got up the nerve to email one of the dressage instructor I found in my area. :shock: I am looking at taking dressage lessons with Mis Jet. I think it would be good cross training for both of us. The problem is I don't have any english tack and due to a sudden change in my summer financial situation I can't afford to pay for $50 lessons. :-( The only way I can afford it is if I can find a trainer that is willing to do a working student type of relationship. 

I just sent an email out to one of the local trainers that I found. I couldn't find anyone who outright said on their website that they take on working students, but I figured I could try. I tried to make it clear that I understood if she couldn't do that sort of arrangement, though I did politely request that if she couldn't could she please point me in the direction of someone who might be able to. 

The darn email hasn't even been out ten minutes and I'm already panicking. What if she says no and then gets offended? What if she gets offended and then just plain doesn't reply? What if what if what if. I have some serious anxiety problems if you haven't noticed. It took me several weeks to get up the nerve to even type up the email and then I had the whole email typed up for a half an hour before I got up the nerve to send it. :shock: Anyway, thanks for listening. Now it's down to the waiting. I hate waiting. 

On the bright side I get to ride again today. The farrier comes out tomorrow morning, then I have to race back to school for my Chinese final, then I havea microeconomics final Friday morning and a writing portfolio and a literary theory paper due on Monday, then I'm freeeeee!


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

I took Mis Jet to the arena this afternoon and she did pretty good. She was a little bit stiff, but we had a few stern discussions and she got over it. She loped out beautifully and even gave me a few fairly straight lines without the fence as a guide. She was a little energetic because it was nice and warm today with a comfortable breeze. But it was good for me to practice sitting a slightly more energetic lope. She was still as smooth as ever though.

I should have known the day was going too good though because when I was loading her in the trailer I didn't get the door closed fast enough. She decided to shoot backwards which she has never done before. Unfortunately she was already tied. The halter broke because the darn safety snap didn't do its job. :evil: So she ended up halterless in the parking lot. Most other horses I know would have made a break for it, but she just stood there like :shock: "that was scary...now what do I do". I was able to just walk right up to her and get the rope around her neck with no problems at all. Then I couldn't find my spare halter so I had to go track down the trainer at the barn to see if I could borrow one. Of course I could leave her there with no halter on, so I ended up dragging her along by the rope around her neck and for some reason she was completely ok with it. :lol: The trainer nearly died on the spot when she saw me dragging my greenie around by just a rope. She was more than happy to lend me a halter, especially since I will be going back up there on Saturday. 

Speaking of Saturday, it is going to be Mis Jet's first real trail ride. The barn is holding a group trail ride. Once you've been on a supervised trail ride, you can go out by yourself any time. 

I was planning on taking her to a ranch horse show on Sunday just to do the in hand class and maybe the w/t class, but then I realized she hasn't got her spring shots yet. I've been putting them off because she only got them the end of last may and I wanted to wait until I was out of school this coming week so I could be around to do it as I never know until last minute when I can get home on weekdays. :-( Now I have to wait for the one in July. Oh well, maybe I'll get in with a dressage trainer and that will keep us occupied for the time being.


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## Mercy98 (Jul 25, 2013)

You have GORGEOUS horses! I'm so jealous! *grabby hands*


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Mercy98 said:


> You have GORGEOUS horses! I'm so jealous! *grabby hands*


Thank you! Renegade and Tex _might_ be going up for sale as soon as I get them legged up again from all those months off...:wink:


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

So, I went on the group trail ride yesterday and Mis Jet did amazing! By now she's got about 40-45 days of training under her belt, but she was by far the greenest horse there. The trainer/BM from the barn was also riding her greenie who had about 120 days on him. Everyone else had "experienced" mounts. Now, I say "experienced" with a healthy dose of sarcasm because there were multiple incidents of bolting, spooking, etc from more than one horse. The experience was...enlightening. :shock:

Multiple people marveled at how calm Mis Jet was. She was really confused as to what we were doing at first, but she quickly got the idea and started to enjoy herself. I had her on a loose rein most of the ride and the rest of the time I only needed very light contact to correct her. 

At first she thought she wanted to ride lead. However, knowing her, I didn't think she would actually enjoy it. So I put her in front to give her a taste of what she had asked for. She very quickly decided that being in the front was scary and maybe the middle of the pack was a nice place to be after all. She never questioned my judgment again. :lol:

We rode for two and a half hours. Some of the trails were really steep with lots of loose rocky ground. But Mis Jet took it like a champ. We very quickly came to the agreement that as long as she behaved and made wise choices, she could completely have her head and pick our path up or down the trickier inclines. As soon as she got to the top/bottom she would momentarily pause and wait for me to re-adjust and direct her on. 

She went through mud, over branches, under branches, over a road, walked passed the neighbor's stallion, and through one of those electronic sliding security gates (twice) all without bating an eyelash. She had horses riding up her a$$ multiple times and didn't even twitch. A horse spooked and backed into the BM's greenie who backed into us and Mis Jet just side passed neatly out of the wayand then stood calmly watching as the the rest of the horses were gotten under control, because a whole bunch of others had started spooking too. 

And, to top it off, we met the neighbor's buffalo. No, I'm not kidding, it was a real buffalo in a pen with goats. The buffalo just stood there while the goats were in a frenzy. All of the other horses lost their minds in terror (one even backed into a tree). Meanwhile Mis Jet begged me to go and say hi. I let her get within twenty feet, but I didn't let her go closer in case the buffalo reacted and spooked the other horses even more, plus I had no idea what sorts of diseases a buffalo might carry. She was miffed that she didn't get to say high properly, but she got over it. 

By the end of the two and a half hours, she was sweaty but still going strong. I was worried about her hooves going into it because they are still not in the greatest of shape, but she did perfectly fine. 

The general opinion once we got back was that Mis Jet was one of the best, if not the best, behaved horses on the ride. 

And, of course, here are some lovely pictures:

Mis Jet patiently waiting to set off.









Mis Jet meets Mr. Buffalo.









A lovely view while we were waiting for stragglers to catch up.


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## skiafoxmorgan (Mar 5, 2014)

I can totally vouch for this little mare.  My girl was feeding off of an obsessive, anxiety-driven mustang and while she didn't do anything "wrong," she was more forward than usual and borderline jigging. Miss Jet? Do de doh de doh. Loose reins, calm, and attentive.  Nice little girl.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

skiafoxmorgan said:


> I can totally vouch for this little mare.  My girl was feeding off of an obsessive, anxiety-driven mustang and while she didn't do anything "wrong," she was more forward than usual and borderline jigging. Miss Jet? Do de doh de doh. Loose reins, calm, and attentive.  Nice little girl.


Thank you! Your girl certainly wasn't the worst on the ride. It looked to me like her mustang friend was calmed a little by her presence. 

I still can't get over the fact that we were on the same ride and didn't even know it. :lol:


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## skiafoxmorgan (Mar 5, 2014)

Oh, no. I know she wasn't. At the start of the ride, I heard someone shouting, "Look out! Look out!" I was getting my mileage tracker running and not paying attention. Next thing I knew, someone had plowed right into Copper's butt. Hard. All she did was jump a little. The worst she did was want to move out faster, be in the lead. She didn't spook, didn't bolt, didn't do anything stupid. But with Keeto (the mustang) twitching and looking at everything, she was more high energy than usual.

Also, she is nine, lean, and more fit than she has been since her jumping career ended three years ago. You'll see. We'll go out together some time, and the worst she'll do is engage her power walk, which she can keep up for hours. Head bobbing, hind end engaged power walk....Toss in a little skitter to the left or right if something untoward happens, and you have my mare. Still, I've had trees fall in the woods a fifty yards from me, and all she did was jump and bolt three strides. I had a turkey explode under her nose, and she snorted. 

Your girl, though...she has a naturally calm disposition. She's willing, calm, kind, and interested. What a steal! I forget, though, did you do all her retraining yourself, or did you send her off?


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

skiafoxmorgan said:


> Oh, no. I know she wasn't. At the start of the ride, I heard someone shouting, "Look out! Look out!" I was getting my mileage tracker running and not paying attention. Next thing I knew, someone had plowed right into Copper's butt. Hard. All she did was jump a little. The worst she did was want to move out faster, be in the lead. She didn't spook, didn't bolt, didn't do anything stupid. But with Keeto (the mustang) twitching and looking at everything, she was more high energy than usual.
> 
> Also, she is nine, lean, and more fit than she has been since her jumping career ended three years ago. You'll see. We'll go out together some time, and the worst she'll do is engage her power walk, which she can keep up for hours. Head bobbing, hind end engaged power walk....Toss in a little skitter to the left or right if something untoward happens, and you have my mare. Still, I've had trees fall in the woods a fifty yards from me, and all she did was jump and bolt three strides. I had a turkey explode under her nose, and she snorted.
> 
> Your girl, though...she has a naturally calm disposition. She's willing, calm, kind, and interested. What a steal! I forget, though, did you do all her retraining yourself, or did you send her off?


Skia, our ride this afternoon definitely showed her natural disposition with out Keeto hanging off of her. She behaved great! And I am doing all of Mis Jet's training myself. She came with pretty solid ground training but no real saddle training (didn't even know what to do with a snaffle :shock.

And for the rest of you not in the know, we went on a lovely ride with Skia and Copper this afternoon. Mis Jet had a bit of a greenie moment getting into the trailer to go, but we worked through it and were only a few minutes late because of it. Once we got out on the trails, poor Mis Jet had to work on extending her walk to keep up. :lol: It gave her some encouragement not to be a dope and just amble along though.

Of course Mis Jet, being the little drama queen that she is had to find the one wire laying across the path and get tangled up in it. :shock: I think Skia and Copper must have accidentally stirred it up in front of us. And then Mis Jet got caught up in it. Fortunately I've practiced the leading by the hind foot exercise a few times using an old breakaway rope. I also did it on her front feet. So when she got all tangled up in the wire (not barbed thankfully) she knew to give to the pressure. Lovely Skia dismounted and came back to help us out of it. Mis Jet just seemed to be sighing at the stupidity of her rider for getting her into the situation. Poor girl was a complete saint, allowing us to escape unscathed. I love my pony!:hug:It's so nice to have a horse that takes such good care of me. 

We spent about an hour out on the trails, then we came back and both horses still had some left in them so we did some arena work. Mis Jet was officially introduced to backing under saddle for the first time, then I practiced various suppling exercise, especially the ones involving rib cage control, and we practiced a lot of trot-walk-trot transitions. She did fabulous, as usual. 

Now we just need to get the shoulder control taken care of before we are ready to start training on barrel and pole patterns. I am so excited for the rest of the summer! At the rate she's going she'll be running barrels and poles in no time! :happydance:Oh, and Skia is potentially hooking me up with a dressage trainer as I have had very little luck finding one on my own. So exciting!


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

The horses got yesterday off because they got their footsies trimmed. The three geldings were a pack of whiny fussy babies about the whole thing. All they really did though was fidget and occasionally try to pull a hoof away. Renegade and Tex both tried to lean on the farrier, but a sharp poke in the ribs from his rasp fixed that. Fortunately the farrier was very understanding, especially since they are usually angels and he has commented multiple times that they are some of his best clients. He assured me that their antics today didn't even come close to what some horses are like on a regular basis. :shock:

So today I took Mis Jet and Renegade over to the arena again and it was the best day I've ever had! Normally one has a bad day while the other has a good day, but today they were both fabulous and Renegade made a huge break through. 

So, I rode Renegade first. This was his second (?) time being ridden in the chambon and he was a completely different horse. I lunged him a little first but there was no spooking, pulling on the line, or trotting like the devil himself was on his tail. He was quite content to walk and jog like the polite respectful pony we all knew he knows how to be. 

When I got on I was convinced it wasn't going to last, but he did so well i decided to try my ball spurs on him again. Mind you, last summer he would freak out just knowing that they were there. This time I put them on _while still sitting on him._ No reaction. I walk and jogged without actually using the spurs. No reaction. I very carefully used the spurs to bend his ribcage at the walk in nice small circles...he put Mis Jet to shame. :-o That's the one thing Mis Jet is still a little stiff on but Renegade went in there and did it like he'd been doing it for his whole life _in both directions_. When I used the spurs to yield his hindquarters he spun so fast on his front end that it made me dizzy! (maybe he did have some reining training after all? ) I loped him and he tripped and scared himself the first two times, but on the third try he loped beautifully. He loped on a draped rein, kept his head down where it belonged thanks to the gentle encouragement of the chambon, and stopped off my seat still on a draped rein. He backed up like a pro and was just soft soft soft through the whole thing. I am so proud of my boy!

Mis Jet was next. She put in her usual fantastic performance, though she is still a little stiff in the rib cage. We practiced backing up and she's starting to get some rhythm and a little speed. Her lope is also getting slower and more rhythmic. She seems to be taking the first steps toward collection. 

Honestly, I was beginning to think that my success with Mis Jet was a fluke. But now, with Renegade's big break through and how well he is performing I am gaining more confidence in myself again.

I have some pictures and videos of both horses that I will upload later.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Here are the pictures I promised.



Renegade on the lunge.









Renegade's opinion on the subject. 









Mis Jet practicing yielding her hindquarters.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Oh boy. It's been a whole two weeks since I updated. 

Well folks, a lot has happened since I last checked in. Lenas Texas Storm "Tex" has been sold. I got an offer on him and he just wasn't cutting it for me so I happily shipped him off to his new home in Virginia on Monday the 18th. That same evening I had a mysterious bout of anaphylaxis with no specific known cause which set off several days worth of asthma problems so I wasn't able to ride most of this week. :-( 

On a brighter note...I finally did it! :happydance:I had my first dressage lesson today. I will repost my post from the dressage forum as I'm tired and worn out.

_So I had posted a while back about wanting to find a dressage trainer who would be willing to work with a western rider. Well, I finally did it. :grin: I found a trainer through the recommendation of skiafoxmorgan and I spent a day to go out and see two of her lessons and watch her ride a client's horse. I thought she looked amazing and everything seemed amazing, but I have had too many bad experiences with crossing the english/western interdisciplinary lines that I was still a little gun shy. But I went for it. Our first lesson was today. I hauled in my little foundation QH mare (extremely green). So there was little old me in my jeans and western tack in the middle of a fancy smansy 100% (I think) english barn. To my pleasant surprise, I seemed just as welcome as when I had showed up to watch and no one made any rude comments at all. In fact, I got several compliments on Mis Jet. I never once felt like one of those throw-away clients that never really get paid much attention to until it comes time to write the check. 

The trainer and I spent some time discussing my goals with Mis Jet and how I wanted her to end up learning (one-handed or two). She doesn't fully neck rein yet but that is the end goal for some events I want to compete in. However I do not have a problem mostly two-handing things for now to teach us both. We settled on marginally less contact than an english rider might use normally, but more than most western riders would use. Fortunately Mis Jet is very sensitive and smart so I was able to do a lot off of my leg anyway...well, when she wasn't busy trying to do a noodle impression, but we'll get to the later. :lol:

We did mostly walk/jog transitions, leg yields, and circles. Apparently Mis Jet still thinks a little too backwards so we also worked on energy and impulsion. I think the poor girl might have discovered a few muscles today that she didn't know she had. After a little bit she started getting fussy because I wouldn't let her poke along like she likes to and she actually did *gasp* work :shock:. You know, like real professional work with high standards and a spotter from the ground to pick out her every mistake. Oh the horror, oh the abuse, I should be ashamed of myself! :lol:

She likes to passive aggressively protest said work by doing aforementioned noodle impressions for a few strides whenever she thinks we should be done working now. And she seems to have perfected the art of rubbernecking at every single bird/squirrel/tarp/box/spectator/spot of wet sand/misc horse eating objects she encounters. She knows better than to spook, but she slows down as slow as she possibly can while still moving her little feet and gawks like a tourist. Well, by the end of the lesson there was a whole lot less rubbernecking and whole lot more moving of feet. 

For my part I focused on keeping my elbows bent, my shoulders back and using my hips more when posting. Over all, we did great! By the end we were leg yielding both ways like nobody's business at the walk and jog and getting much better circles and sharper walk/jog transitions. 

We didn't do any loping because Mis Jet is on a fairly agressive trim schedule to get her feet back in shape and she was just a little tender.

Now I just need to practice all this over the next week and try to remember all of the little tips and corrections she gave me. We have another lesson next weekend and I can't wait! :happydance:_

I forgot to mention that the little princess had her first (to my knowledge) experience with an indoor wash stall as I was allowed to hose her off inside. I didn't actually cross tie her in it as I thought that might be a bit much for the first time, but she did remarkably well considering that is was a strange water hose in a strange stall over top of a horse-eating drain. :mrgreen:


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

So, I had my second dressage lesson today. My trainer said that we have improved a lot over the last week. However, there is one small problem...my dad recently got a "new" (lightly used) ranch saddle. It is technically just a smidge too big for me in the seat, but it fits Mis Jet and Renegade perfectly and feels great. Renegade loves it better than the barrel saddle. Mis Jet is not quite sure about having her world up-ended by a new saddle since my barrel saddle is the one I used to saddle break her. 

Anyway, I decided to try using the ranch saddle for lessons (with my dad's permission) because the fenders hang down directly under you rather than forward like my barrel saddle. 

In theory that should improve my leg position, right? Wrong. I guess the way that the barrel saddle is built hides my chair seat, but it is glaringly obvious in this saddle. :hide: So, yeah, we spent a lot of time working on that.

On a more positive note, Mis Jet is doing great. Her walk/jog transitions are a lot snappier and have more impulsion. Her leg yields are coming along nicely, though I have to start demanding more straightness and lateral movement from her because she has just a little too much forward in them sometimes. 

Her jog is pretty nice. We still need to work on rhythm, but my trainer said some of that might fix itself once I fix my seat.

And, best of all, Mis Jet offered a few steps of collection when I wasn't even asking for it!!!!!! We haven't even officially started working on collection yet, but during the transitions she suddenly brought her back up and really engaged her hind end. It was only for a few (non-consecutive) steps, but she did it all on her own! :mrgreen:

My trainer comment while I was untacking what a strong back Mis Jet has. Apparently all those long boring hours of lunging are really paying off to the point that other people are noticing. I need to get some new confo pics and put her up for critique again. Her topline has improved dramatically. It also helps that if I want to ride on my parent's property (where I keep her) I _have_ to do hill work because there is no arena and the only flat spot on the property is the roundpen. Lol. So she's been walking and jogging all kinds of hills and the new pastures are going up are very hilly ground.

Speaking of new pastures...we're almost finished with the perimeter fencing around several acres. We still need to finish the run-ins and fence off the paddock area, but the pastures should be usable in the next couple of days as short term turnout until all of the little details are taken care of to allow us to use them for 24/7 turnout. I can't wait and I bet my little band of hooligans can't either.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Oh wow, it's been month since I updated. Ugh. So much has happened. 
Had a third lesson. Mis Jet was showing no signs of hurting so my trainer had me lope a little. I hadn't loped at all since I had started lessons since I was focused on the homework she had given me plus we were outdoors in a dressage arena which Mis Jet had never been in before, so I was just like, "ooook, here goes."...She loped off andmg:. She was round!!!! As in not dragging on the forehand like a plowhorse which I now realize she was doing before!!!! My trainer completely agreed that she had a beautiful lope but I assured her that she had never loped like that before. She laughed and told me that meant we were on the right track. My next lesson we canceled because I barely got to practice that week due to all the rain. I did however get to go to a cowboy challenge at the arena I haul in to. I took both Mis Jet and Renegade. It was basically a timed obstacle course. They were both little turds because it was raining. I don't know exactly how many people were there, maybe twenty something. I got 7th with Mis Jet and 9th with Renegade. Not bad considering.

The lesson after that the rig broke down on the way stranding me by the side of the highway so we didn't get to that one either. :frown_color:

So, my fourth lesson was yesterday. Mis Jet's attitude seems to have improved considerably now that she is out on 3 acres of pasture 24/7 with Renegade and Starlight. I was expecting her to be better behaved. Our homework was to work on leads (among other things). She has days where she's 100% and then days where she seems to know absolutely nothing. I was beginning to think it was me that was the problem. We get there. The walk and jog stuff are good. I just need to work on keeping my hands out of her way. 

So, we get to loping. The right lead seemed to be her stronger one at home so we logically started with that. No really that complicated. We had to share the ring with another lesson because the outdoors were so sloppy so the ring was split in half. No big deal. So I pick up a jog. Get her balanced. Prepare her. Everything looks good. Ask for a right lead...get a real fast jack hammer trot into a left lead. Bring her back down. Rinse repeat. Same results five times in a row. :x REALLY?! So we try the left lead. I finally, FINALLY, manage to get that one after a couple of tries. Mind you, her feet were just done and I am constantly checking her for any kind of soreness because I am paranoid. Her saddle fit has been checked. Everything is fine. She lopes off just fine if you don't ask her for a specific lead (and she'll pick up both voluntarily and do flying changes on her own). She just gets a stick up her butt when you try to tell her what lead to pick up. 

Anyway, back to the lesson, my trainer had me get off and we put her on the lunge. I had been lunging her at the lope too. She had been doing ok...I thought. So my trainer asks if she's been leaning to the outside. umm....a little. Uh oh, not good. She asked me to show her how I lunge her. I do two circles at a jog (would do more but she was already warmed up), then ask her to lope off. She sticks her nose in the air and starts backing up. By this time I am feeling like a complete failure and I am absolutely convinced that its me and as soon as my trainer takes the line she's going to be fine.  So I hand over the whip and line. My trainer gets her going at the jog. She's a little sticky. Then she asks for a lope. She does the same thing as she did with me. (Is it mean that a small part of me is a little bit happy that she did and it wasn't just me? ) After that blow up, Mis Jet just refused to go forward period. My trainer deduced that it wasn't so much the lope that was the problem, but the entire gas peddle, so to speak. She just doesn't like to go forward. 

My trainer ended up working her on a much shorter lung line at the walk and jog and being very demanding about going forward NOW not three strides from now. She showed me how to work her in the side reins and prescribed a rigorous week of lunging bootcamp. She said Mis Jet looks like a good candidate for longlining which we will be starting next week. She did say that she doesn't think that it will take long to get her over this as long as I do my homework though.

Fortunately my trainer was very patient through the whole thing and never once made me feel like a failure. (I did that enough for both of us.)

Over all, a rough couple of weeks. Somehow we went from this :mylittlepony: to this :falloff:. At least I have new emojis to play with. Lol.

Here is a picture of the herd in their new pasture. (Actually this part is where some of their old pasture was. I'll try to get some pictures of the new part. The t-posts you see are left-over from the old temporary fencing and are outside the new fence.)









Here is Renegade wearing a tarp in the name of desensitizing. He even walked around with it on a little because he just trust me that much.









Now, if you will excuse me, I have a PMSing mare to torture...*cough* I mean lunge.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Well, it seems like the lunge line homework with Mis Jet is working. We had a pretty successful session yesterday. We moved from the roundpen out into the big arena since she was no longer pulling and throwing hissy fits and the footing was better. Boy is it a lot more work out there. I was able to get her working in bigger circles (still on a short line) which she seemed to appreciate and she started really engaging her topline. It was the first session she really seemed to be putting some effort into it. I still had to give her a few solid taps on the butt to get her moving, especially at the beginning to reminder her that _move_ means _move NOW_. We did lots of transitions and I really tried to focus on raising my expectations and not nagging. I think we both improved. _My_ fitness is certainly going to improve after a whole week of this.

I ended up not riding her because by the time we were done we were both exhausted. I had ridden Renegade before her so I was doubly tired. Did some schooling on barrels with him. He did fabulous. Forgot to put the bit guards on though. My bad. He proved to me that all of the training I have put into installing his on/off switch for his inner barrel horse has paid off. I can turn him on and bust some awesome barrel horse moves and turn around, shut him down, and ride around like a little pleasure horse. He is officially for sale by word of mouth now. I'm going to be putting together a video and some pictures to put up on line this week. It will be sad to see him go, but it's time. He will always have a special place in my heart, but he is in his prime and he deserves to find his perfect forever home. It would be selfish of me to hang on to him.  

Well, on that note. Off to lunging bootcamp with a certain mare. I can feel my muscles hurting already. Lol. :cowboy:


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

A lot has happened over the last three weeks. Renegade has been up for sale for exactly one week. The first potential buyer is coming out tomorrow evening. You can refer to my thread from horse talk for more details on that controversy if you haven't already read it. 
http://www.horseforum.com/horse-talk/considering-payment-plan-horse-im-selling-604930/

Meanwhile, I'm applying for jobs for the upcoming school year. I've applied for three. All three have gotten back to me. I just had the second interview for one today and I came away with an offer (conditional on background check of course). :dance-smiley05: I have a second interview set up for Monday with another and then I'm (possibly) setting up a first interview with the third. So really, I have a job, it's just a matter of which one.

Anyway, onto the ponies. :gallop:

Mis Jet and Renegade have started being little turds about being caught. I mean, they're weren't _that_ bad, compared to some horses, but I'm just so used to waltzing right up to them that when they decided to make a break for it yesterday I was just like :eek_color:. Who are you and what did you do with my horses?!?!?!?! I suppose I was a bit overdue for a good dose of humility. It only took ten minutes to catch the little stinkers, which, given the size of the pasture means they weren't really trying _that_ hard. Lesson learned: don't get lazy when Mis Jet's in heat. She likes to lead Renegade astray and gets him into all kinds of trouble. :icon_rolleyes: Poor guy is such a pushover.

Mis Jet has been giving me some problems with the double lunging. She's started ducking behind the bit and coming behind the vertical. My trainer's instructions were to abandon finesse and go for impulsion. It works, but it is easier said than done. The first couple of session I addressed the issue I worked her in the roundpen so the roundpen would hold the circle for me and I could focus on impulsion. Now we're moving back to the big arena. She is coming around. 

Most of Renegade's workouts are basic fitness, keeping him tuned up and in shape for potential viewers. I've been taking him out on trails more. That perks him up. He gets really bored in the arena. 

Mis Jet has been forced to learn the fine art of letting me wash her ears. Oh the horror! :tongue:









The new barn kitten. Her name is Cheshire because she purrs constantly and is always so smug. Chessie for short. 









Chessie watching the ducks, Mumble (left) and Happy (right). (Yes, I confess, they looked like little penguins when we got them so I couldn't resist the Happy Feet reference, but I hated the name Gloria. Not the best of movies, but still adorable and I made the reference once then the names just stuck. :wink


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

So, on the selling front, meeting with the first potential buyer's went well last night. Problem is they need to sell their other horse before they can make a cash offer. Sad, because they seem like such a good fit, but such is life. They did point me in the direction of somewhere I might be able to get a new stock trailer for a decent price though. I've never had a _new_ trailer before. :dance-smiley05:I took down the information about their horse to pass on to some of my contacts. Win win for everyone. 

The second buyer that called didn't work out just from talking over the phone. 

But I got a call this afternoon from a nice lady in NJ. We did a lot of talking. Long story short, she is really interested in Renegade as a dependable mount for her mother (who was in the background getting all excited) and they are making the _long_ trek to our humble farm this coming Saturday. There was talk of cash offer and maybe even the trailer coming along just in case. I have a call into the vet to see what papers we'll need for going over state lines. 

I think it's finally starting to sink in that I'm really getting rid of him.  I've only had him for three, going on four, years. But it still feels like forever. He's taught me so much. I desperately wish I could keep him, but I just don't have time for him and he's just not the horse I need right now. :frown: He doesn't deal with my anxiety quite as well as my mare does. She is a lot more independent and that's what I need. I'm not a beginner rider, but I am coming back from a serious accident, 8 months off, and I struggled with anxiety to start with before any of that happened. She is greener, but for some reason she and I just click better. 

Then there is also the fact that I am taking over paying for their upkeep and I cannot afford 2 horses and a pony as a full time student, so someone has to go and the pony is mine forever. Renegade just so happens to eat the most (by a very small margin, he's still an easy keeper).

It's hard to comprehend that I might have barely a week left with my sweet boy. :frown_color:


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Wow, 4 months already!  It certainly doesn't feel that long. Umm...so, where do I start?

Well, I got the job I was interviewing for. It's a part time sales floor position. I'm in the fall semester of my junior year in college. I met a guy at work and we started dating (completely within regulations). But now he's proving to be a twit and it looks like I'm going to have to kick him to the curb after little more than a month. :icon_rolleyes: Then there's all the family drama that would take a novel to go into.

I got a dressage saddle. :eek_color::eek_color::eek_color::eek_color: Yes, a real dressage saddle. And I got a matching bridle for my birthday. Now I just need a girth that fits and a right saddle pad. 

That leads me onto my next bit of news...I broke my arm. As in a compound fracture that punctured the skin. For those of you who still don't get the severity of that, the bone broken clean off just above the elbow and was sticking out through the skin. Your welcome for the mental picture. They had to break it at least one other place to get everything back where it belonged. Now I've got a while bunch of screws and a plate in my elbow. 

How did I accomplish this feat, you ask? I fell off the horse...well, technically I didn't really fall _off _the horse because I wasn't even _on_ the horse completely yet. I had one foot on the stirrup. I stupidly didn't use a mounting block because the other 5000 times I've mounted without one its been fine. But the saddle slipped a teeny bit and Mis Jet stepped sideways out from under me. And I mean _stepped_. As in calmly. As in no bucking, rearing, scooting, etc. The darn mare stepped out from under me. So I went toppling over backwards. But i panicked because I knew if I landed on my butt I risked injuring my spine again. So I threw myself sideways. I didn't straight arm, but I guess my elbow was sticking out a bit. The rest is history. 

For the first eleven years I rode like a banshee! I fell off just about every way possible and never broke a bone. Now I get my head screwed on straight and start riding sane horses and the only accidents I have are the really "minor" stupid ones and now suddenly my bones start breaking right and left! How is that even fair? :frown_color:

Even the surgeon couldn't figure out how that accident mangled my arm so badly. He told me that if I wanted to change the story to something more dramatic he wouldn't argue. I joked that maybe I could say a bear came after us on the trail and I had to punch it in the face. Sounds far more impressive than falling on my elbow trying to get on the darn horse.  lol

Now I have to take a medical withdraw from half my classes and I'm stuck staying at my parents house until I can function on my own again which won't happen until I'm off of some of these pain killers. Ugh. On the bright side, my horses are here and my doctor told me outright that he wasn't going to tell me not to ride because he had a feeling it wasn't going to do any good anyway. So I have permission to ride as long as I keep it "slow, sane, and one-handed on something short". Mis Jet is 14.3 and neck reins at a walk and trot now so problem solved. :thumbsup:


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Awww, what a sad ending. I read all your journal for the first time and really liked it . . . just not the ending. What a bummer. Who bought Renegade and how is he doing? How did you do after selling him? How long will it be before you can ride again? I am so sorry you had those two lousy accidents . . . like you said, at least it could have been something exciting and dramatic. How many times have we all mounted and had the saddle slip and we fell . . . and NOTHING HAPPENED. Phooey. I look forward to your next post.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Thanks! 
Actually I ended up taking Renegade off the market. I turned away no less than three dealers (one multiple times), three cash buyers that were too inexperienced, and a couple of cash buyers that were tier kickers and/or hoarders who only wanted him because he is a "purty buckskin" and "looks exactly like Spirit". I'm going to wait until spring and try a different marketing strategy. I officially hate buckskins. This color is a PITA to sell because so many buyers are color blind and it makes it so hard to find him a good home.


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## LittleBayMare (Jun 2, 2014)

Well, I had quite an enlightening moment this afternoon. Lately I have been feeling like my relationship with Mis Jet has been deteriorating and I couldn't figure out why. Last night, when I went out the groom while my dad was feeding (there's little i can do on that front with my mangled arm), it finally hit me. In the first 6 months I had her, before my first accident, we did a lot of groundwork. But after I got cleared to ride again, I became so focused on my riding goals that the only groundwork we did was the grueling lunging with side reins, longlining and double lunging. We haven't done any of the other stuff in a long time. So I got her halter out and put it on. (Ever try putting a rope halter on with one hand? It take a lot of creativity. lol) It was cold slippery, so we just stayed in the paddock. I asked her to yield her hind quarters. She did so nearly perfectly. I could see the wheels turning in her brain as she tried to figure out what I was up to. I cued her to the right in a circle around me. She carefully did a tiny circle around me at a jog. I yielded her hindquarters and ask for a change of direction, she hesitated halfway through the rollback. Thats when I saw the light bulb go on. She was just like "Oh...Oh! You want to play? Seriously?! Yes!!!!" She sat down and finished that rollback in true qh fashion and suddenly her jog went from flat and bored to round, springy, and excited, though she never once stepped a toe out of line. It wasn't long before I took the rope off and we were free lunging and doing rollbacks, yielding hind and fore, backing, and even side passing. Its been a long time since we've danced like that. :loveshower: Of course afterwards she got lots of scratches and snuggles. I need to remember to do this more often. I guess she felt like I was too focused on work and not enough on what she wanted to do. I feel really bad now that i know what the problem was. I will try to remember to relax and play with her more often so its not all work work work.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

This journal has been closed due to prolonged lack of participation by the author. Journals that have no active participation by the author for a period of time greater than 18 months will be considered abandoned and will be closed until the author asks for them to be reopened.


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