![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quietannI am really, really exhausted again. No idea why this keeps happening. The weekend has been an exercise in avoiding doing one thing and thereby doing very little at all. Sooooo tired.
Anyway... Thursday afternoon, I left with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
goddessfarmer and Trumpie for a one-day event/horse trials at her daughter Alice's camp, Vershire Riding School. It's in a very rural and mountainous part of Vermont. After a 3 1/2 hour drive, we arrived and found Trumpie's stall, fed him dinner, and then walked the cross-country course so goddessfarmer could familiarize herself with the route and the jumps. It was only 13 jumps, but a VERY long route with a lot of up and down; it took over 45 minutes to walk it. Because it rained every day last week up there, it was also quite muddy.
It was good to have Alice along, because Alice had Trumpie at camp in 2005 and 2006 and knew which jumps he might have issues with. He has vision problems and relies on his rider to help him through and over obstacles, but some things, like water, just scare him. Alice also pointed out some non-jump things to deal with, like a big bunch of scary tree roots to one side of the path.
goddessfarmer and I spent the night at a nice bed and breakfast a few miles away. We were up 6 and at the event by a little bit after 7. (goddessfarmer is a morning person, so this is much easier for her than it is for me!) goddessfarmer maintained all along that her goal was to have a sound Trumpie by the end of the competition, and she knew she might have to withdraw him to get that, since they had not competed in 5 or 6 years, and she wasn't sure she'd spent enough time conditioning him ahead of time. Nonetheless, we soldiered ahead. goddessfarmer braided Trumpie's mane, which made him look quite professional.
These events have three parts: dressage, cross-country, and stadium jumping. Dressage requires a great deal of control and concentration; Trumpie's a born dressage horse, albeit a lazy one. There are no jumps, just a series of elements to be performed in a set order, much like the old "compulsory figures" in figure skating. The judge noted his lack of energy, andgoddessfarmer says it wasn't a good test, but nonetheless it was better than anyone else's, so they were in first place out of 9 riders at the end of the dressage portion. I spent some time after this just holding Trumpie's leadline so he could graze. There was a young horse at the trailer next to ours who was new to events and got himself all worked up, whinnying and fussing, but this didn't bother Trumpie at all.
Cross-country wasgoddessfarmer's biggest concern because of the long route and Trumpie's potential lack of fitness, as well as possible issues with some types of jumps. I watched their start, and Trumpie looked great; his ears were pricked, he was moving well, and the first two jumps were beautiful. After that, from where I was standing (with goddessfarmer's father, who was quite willing to talk horses with me even though he claims not to like them much) I could not see them until the very end. When they reappeared, Trumpie was obviously tired, but he was still a happy horse. He did well with all the jumps, but got a few time penalties because goddessfarmer was being careful with him, and so they were in second place after cross-country. goddessfarmer checked him out and at that point saw no reason to withdraw Trumpie; he recovered normal pulse and breathing well and wasn't sore.
We then had a nice break for lunch and after that, the last phase, stadium jumping, although in this case the jumps were set out in a field with a gentle slope. This is a short course and its basic function is to show that one still has horse left after the rigors of cross-country.goddessfarmer and Trumpie had a really nice stadium round and ended up second place overall, earning a pretty red ribbon.
Oh, all along we were also watching Alice compete on her camp horse, Rocky. He's a lot more challenging for her than Trumpie was; he needs a lot of schooling to help him get proper muscling and balance, and he's not really getting that as a camp horse. Alice handled it all pretty well and was 6th place in her division.
We got everything loaded (including Trumpie) and were back at The Hill by about 6:30 p.m. It was a long, exhausting day, but a lot of fun! And... part of the reasongoddessfarmer took me, besides being Trumpie's groom, was to let me see the camp and get me hooked so I'd want to go to one of their adult camp weeks next year. I have to say that it worked!
I went up to The Hill this morning. Conveniently enough, I'd driven the truck, so the task of getting all of Trump's stuff from the event back into the barn was made much easier.
Minnie had not been ridden in a week and a half, so she was pretty hyper, especially in the barn before I got on her. She just gets herself all worked up over being tied, and now it's spreading to the wash stall. Once again, I had problems with her and needed help from others to get her in the stall, on the ties, and standing still dammit! Once she saw that Trump would be standing right nearby, she calmed down.
Right beforegoddessfarmer and I were set to ride, a hay truck showed up in the indoor ring with 300 and some bales of hay to be unloaded. We *should* have helped, but goddessfarmer had forgotten her respirator mask. For all that Minnie is silly sometimes, sharing the indoor ring with this big truck and a lot of noise and commotion, not to mention all that *food* was not a problem at all. She is not afraid of trucks or farm equipment, thanks to being exposed to it as a very young horse.
We rode for about 30 minutes, and Minnie was *so* good today. She didn't especially like having the far door to the indoor ring open, and had to think about spooking every time we passed by it, but she calmed down over time. We did simple things -- walk, trot, and canter. The first canter, according togoddessfarmer, looked really good; the ones after that, well, both Minnie and I were tired and we were working in Minnie's less favored direction so we got the wrong lead. Sigh.
goddessfarmer worked Trumpie, and pronounced him flexible and sound after his big adventure, and she plans to ride him again at the next camp event in 3 weeks. I will be in San Diego that weekend, and in any case goddessfarmer wouldn't have room for me, because Alice and all of Alice's camp stuff will be returning with her.
Afterwards, with two hot, tired horses in need of hosing off, we discovered that the water supply at The Hill was not working. Sogoddessfarmer grabbed a sponge and we sponged Minnie off in her paddock using water from her water tank. Trumpie cooled himself off just fine.
So in a few weeks, after camp is over,goddessfarmer is taking lyonesse and her pony Stjarni to a little show, and she says that if I want to come along and ride Minnie in a walk-trot class, that would be fine. I'm seriously considering it; I think we can do this without making total fools of ourselves, and Minnie is fit enough so long as she keeps her shoes on. So... hmmmm.
Anyway... Thursday afternoon, I left with
goddessfarmer and Trumpie for a one-day event/horse trials at her daughter Alice's camp, Vershire Riding School. It's in a very rural and mountainous part of Vermont. After a 3 1/2 hour drive, we arrived and found Trumpie's stall, fed him dinner, and then walked the cross-country course so goddessfarmer could familiarize herself with the route and the jumps. It was only 13 jumps, but a VERY long route with a lot of up and down; it took over 45 minutes to walk it. Because it rained every day last week up there, it was also quite muddy.It was good to have Alice along, because Alice had Trumpie at camp in 2005 and 2006 and knew which jumps he might have issues with. He has vision problems and relies on his rider to help him through and over obstacles, but some things, like water, just scare him. Alice also pointed out some non-jump things to deal with, like a big bunch of scary tree roots to one side of the path.
goddessfarmer and I spent the night at a nice bed and breakfast a few miles away. We were up 6 and at the event by a little bit after 7. (goddessfarmer is a morning person, so this is much easier for her than it is for me!) goddessfarmer maintained all along that her goal was to have a sound Trumpie by the end of the competition, and she knew she might have to withdraw him to get that, since they had not competed in 5 or 6 years, and she wasn't sure she'd spent enough time conditioning him ahead of time. Nonetheless, we soldiered ahead. goddessfarmer braided Trumpie's mane, which made him look quite professional. These events have three parts: dressage, cross-country, and stadium jumping. Dressage requires a great deal of control and concentration; Trumpie's a born dressage horse, albeit a lazy one. There are no jumps, just a series of elements to be performed in a set order, much like the old "compulsory figures" in figure skating. The judge noted his lack of energy, and
goddessfarmer says it wasn't a good test, but nonetheless it was better than anyone else's, so they were in first place out of 9 riders at the end of the dressage portion. I spent some time after this just holding Trumpie's leadline so he could graze. There was a young horse at the trailer next to ours who was new to events and got himself all worked up, whinnying and fussing, but this didn't bother Trumpie at all.Cross-country was
goddessfarmer's biggest concern because of the long route and Trumpie's potential lack of fitness, as well as possible issues with some types of jumps. I watched their start, and Trumpie looked great; his ears were pricked, he was moving well, and the first two jumps were beautiful. After that, from where I was standing (with goddessfarmer's father, who was quite willing to talk horses with me even though he claims not to like them much) I could not see them until the very end. When they reappeared, Trumpie was obviously tired, but he was still a happy horse. He did well with all the jumps, but got a few time penalties because goddessfarmer was being careful with him, and so they were in second place after cross-country. goddessfarmer checked him out and at that point saw no reason to withdraw Trumpie; he recovered normal pulse and breathing well and wasn't sore.We then had a nice break for lunch and after that, the last phase, stadium jumping, although in this case the jumps were set out in a field with a gentle slope. This is a short course and its basic function is to show that one still has horse left after the rigors of cross-country.
goddessfarmer and Trumpie had a really nice stadium round and ended up second place overall, earning a pretty red ribbon.Oh, all along we were also watching Alice compete on her camp horse, Rocky. He's a lot more challenging for her than Trumpie was; he needs a lot of schooling to help him get proper muscling and balance, and he's not really getting that as a camp horse. Alice handled it all pretty well and was 6th place in her division.
We got everything loaded (including Trumpie) and were back at The Hill by about 6:30 p.m. It was a long, exhausting day, but a lot of fun! And... part of the reason
goddessfarmer took me, besides being Trumpie's groom, was to let me see the camp and get me hooked so I'd want to go to one of their adult camp weeks next year. I have to say that it worked!I went up to The Hill this morning. Conveniently enough, I'd driven the truck, so the task of getting all of Trump's stuff from the event back into the barn was made much easier.
Minnie had not been ridden in a week and a half, so she was pretty hyper, especially in the barn before I got on her. She just gets herself all worked up over being tied, and now it's spreading to the wash stall. Once again, I had problems with her and needed help from others to get her in the stall, on the ties, and standing still dammit! Once she saw that Trump would be standing right nearby, she calmed down.
Right before
goddessfarmer and I were set to ride, a hay truck showed up in the indoor ring with 300 and some bales of hay to be unloaded. We *should* have helped, but goddessfarmer had forgotten her respirator mask. For all that Minnie is silly sometimes, sharing the indoor ring with this big truck and a lot of noise and commotion, not to mention all that *food* was not a problem at all. She is not afraid of trucks or farm equipment, thanks to being exposed to it as a very young horse. We rode for about 30 minutes, and Minnie was *so* good today. She didn't especially like having the far door to the indoor ring open, and had to think about spooking every time we passed by it, but she calmed down over time. We did simple things -- walk, trot, and canter. The first canter, according to
goddessfarmer, looked really good; the ones after that, well, both Minnie and I were tired and we were working in Minnie's less favored direction so we got the wrong lead. Sigh. goddessfarmer worked Trumpie, and pronounced him flexible and sound after his big adventure, and she plans to ride him again at the next camp event in 3 weeks. I will be in San Diego that weekend, and in any case goddessfarmer wouldn't have room for me, because Alice and all of Alice's camp stuff will be returning with her.Afterwards, with two hot, tired horses in need of hosing off, we discovered that the water supply at The Hill was not working. So
goddessfarmer grabbed a sponge and we sponged Minnie off in her paddock using water from her water tank. Trumpie cooled himself off just fine.So in a few weeks, after camp is over,
goddessfarmer is taking lyonesse and her pony Stjarni to a little show, and she says that if I want to come along and ride Minnie in a walk-trot class, that would be fine. I'm seriously considering it; I think we can do this without making total fools of ourselves, and Minnie is fit enough so long as she keeps her shoes on. So... hmmmm.
