motorgypsy
04-02-2006, 03:48 AM
We decided yesterday to take Chinook and Lula to the fun show in Lexington NC since we couldn't get to the dressage show that we had planned to atten in time because they had moved it from the last class to the first class. AND since we were having to drive three hours each way and spend at least $75 in gas to get there we entered every class we were eligible for.
Now you guys probably know that the only thing we've done recently is Hunter pace rides and these two went together on them. We haven't had them in an arena since September to give you an idea of how rusty they were. AND we weren't able to get there until 11am so we had NO warmup at all. So this is taking two hotheads out of the pasture into the show ring COLD.
Well actually the first class went really well. There were about 14 horses in it - Amateur pleasure - and Chinook got 5th place. She was really awesome in the class but when they had the workoff she BALKED!!! Since She was separated from Lula, a mare she does not stay with and who beats up on her when they were together, but who she now decided she had to be with or she WASN'T doing ANYTHING GRRRRRRRR - we had several words of prayer, lots of flexing, backing and so on but boy was she rooted. I did manage to get her to go around one time in a nice largo but still she did get fifth.
The next class was performance and Lula refused to corto. She WALKED across the fino board! Kyle was NOT pleased with her. Well actually she did gait a bit toward the end but not much. Chinook actually did pretty well but she was still a bit annoyed and wasn't doing as well as she did in pleasure. She actually can do beautifully in performance but she said "SHE didn't FEEL like it!" So she flat walked and did a fairly relaxed corto. Not exactly the ticket for performance!
The next one was was go as you please and Chinook was behaving better but didn't have her usual zing but at least she didn't embarrass me.
Then onto Western Pleasure Color class - I went in there on Chinook and didn't have time to change to Western stuff but we get in and I try to get her to flat walk, she wants to fino. Would she fino in performance class? NO. She's going to fino in Western Pleasure. GRRRRRR. Then they asked for a canter/lope. HAH. I didn't even realize they were going to ask for it. Chinook is a barrel racing horse. She can lope but she doesn't usually lope - she usually gallops. Well she did a reasonable facsimile of a hand gallop - under control and who know what lead she was on because I was just trying to keep her in the gait. But she did really quite well other than the refusing to flat walk thing.
Then we had English Novice rider. Chinook did quite well although she wasn't walking well yet.
Then I switched to Lula for trail since Kyle was tired and he'd never done trail before and Chinook was a bit tired and peeved. I hadn't ridden Lula that day and she was away from the mare she loves to bite so of course she had to be very naughty. Attempted to rear and misbehave but after putting her head on my boot a couple times and doing one punishment circle, she settled down and really did quite nicely in trail. You had to back through an L and I gave her very bad cues so she stepped over the rail. She was very peeved at me. But she did the cones great, the pipe, the gate would have been really pretty good if I hadn't pulled it over. I didn't know it would go over because all the ones I've done before were very firmly anchored. But we still got through it and put rope back up and dragged the plastic bag on a rope and got the rain coat, put it over our shoulder and put it back on the hook. I was soooo proud of her!!
Ahhhh now onto the pole bending. Chinook can and does usually run poles in 21 seconds but this wasn't regulation, it has been three years since she ran poles and she was tired and cantankerous but the little "donkey" still managed to win the class by .01 seconds! And she finally really poured on the speed at the final part of the run. Yaay Chinook!!
Last but not least the largo race. I switched to Lula again and she was PERFECT. She took second place just nosed out by the number one horse and she didn't break gait once and stuck to the inside track like a pro! What a great way to end the day. With two great performances from two great paso finos!
I'm sooooo tired!!!
Now you guys probably know that the only thing we've done recently is Hunter pace rides and these two went together on them. We haven't had them in an arena since September to give you an idea of how rusty they were. AND we weren't able to get there until 11am so we had NO warmup at all. So this is taking two hotheads out of the pasture into the show ring COLD.
Well actually the first class went really well. There were about 14 horses in it - Amateur pleasure - and Chinook got 5th place. She was really awesome in the class but when they had the workoff she BALKED!!! Since She was separated from Lula, a mare she does not stay with and who beats up on her when they were together, but who she now decided she had to be with or she WASN'T doing ANYTHING GRRRRRRRR - we had several words of prayer, lots of flexing, backing and so on but boy was she rooted. I did manage to get her to go around one time in a nice largo but still she did get fifth.
The next class was performance and Lula refused to corto. She WALKED across the fino board! Kyle was NOT pleased with her. Well actually she did gait a bit toward the end but not much. Chinook actually did pretty well but she was still a bit annoyed and wasn't doing as well as she did in pleasure. She actually can do beautifully in performance but she said "SHE didn't FEEL like it!" So she flat walked and did a fairly relaxed corto. Not exactly the ticket for performance!
The next one was was go as you please and Chinook was behaving better but didn't have her usual zing but at least she didn't embarrass me.
Then onto Western Pleasure Color class - I went in there on Chinook and didn't have time to change to Western stuff but we get in and I try to get her to flat walk, she wants to fino. Would she fino in performance class? NO. She's going to fino in Western Pleasure. GRRRRRR. Then they asked for a canter/lope. HAH. I didn't even realize they were going to ask for it. Chinook is a barrel racing horse. She can lope but she doesn't usually lope - she usually gallops. Well she did a reasonable facsimile of a hand gallop - under control and who know what lead she was on because I was just trying to keep her in the gait. But she did really quite well other than the refusing to flat walk thing.
Then we had English Novice rider. Chinook did quite well although she wasn't walking well yet.
Then I switched to Lula for trail since Kyle was tired and he'd never done trail before and Chinook was a bit tired and peeved. I hadn't ridden Lula that day and she was away from the mare she loves to bite so of course she had to be very naughty. Attempted to rear and misbehave but after putting her head on my boot a couple times and doing one punishment circle, she settled down and really did quite nicely in trail. You had to back through an L and I gave her very bad cues so she stepped over the rail. She was very peeved at me. But she did the cones great, the pipe, the gate would have been really pretty good if I hadn't pulled it over. I didn't know it would go over because all the ones I've done before were very firmly anchored. But we still got through it and put rope back up and dragged the plastic bag on a rope and got the rain coat, put it over our shoulder and put it back on the hook. I was soooo proud of her!!
Ahhhh now onto the pole bending. Chinook can and does usually run poles in 21 seconds but this wasn't regulation, it has been three years since she ran poles and she was tired and cantankerous but the little "donkey" still managed to win the class by .01 seconds! And she finally really poured on the speed at the final part of the run. Yaay Chinook!!
Last but not least the largo race. I switched to Lula again and she was PERFECT. She took second place just nosed out by the number one horse and she didn't break gait once and stuck to the inside track like a pro! What a great way to end the day. With two great performances from two great paso finos!
I'm sooooo tired!!!