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Showing posts from April, 2017

Hidden Brook Farm Dressage Schooling Show - June 2, 2019

Ellie and I did a show at our lesson barn this past weekend instead of taking a lesson.  I would have done a lesson on Saturday before the show, but my instructor went to NEDA Spring with her eldest daughter, who was able to get her last Grand Prix score for her USDF Gold Medal!!!  So that is a good reason to not be able to lesson haha.

I admit I was a little bummed about our low scores at the SMDA show two weeks prior.  I know a score of 6 (60%) is called satisfactory, but I really thought our performance was better than a low 60%.
I was determined to ride well and even though Beth was not there, I had her youngest daughter as my back up if the wheels fell off the bus LOL!  She was already in the warmup and at the show ring with her actual students, so it was nice to have her there to remind me to breathe and not hang on the left rein!  ;-)
Ellie unloaded and was totally calm.  Honestly, she loves her lesson barn and knows it is her second home haha.  She was much calmer tied to the tra…
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Spring Tune Up - Chiro and Polyglycan

Besides the normal spring shots and Coggins draw that my horses had last month, today I had my vet back out for a chiropractic evaluation on Snappy.  At age seventeen this year and with twelve years of racing under her belt, it is only a matter of time before she shows some arthritic changes.  Late last fall, I noticed she was hesitant to canter at times and I didn't feel it was training related.  Of course, it was time to start our winter hibernation anyway and after our last six weeks of "work" up until December only really being low impact trail rides, I figured I may as well give her time to rest over the winter and reevaluate this spring.  

She has been EXCELLENT under saddle this spring, a far cry from the flighty bundle of nerves last year at this time.  She is walking, trotting, and halting without a fuss, calm transitions, and correct lateral work at the walk.  All the basic buttons are finally there without any temper tantrums.  The snow is gone (thank you, rand…
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Spring Happenings

Spring is taking its sweet time to arrive here on the farm, and I have been trying to not be crabby over the sn*wy weather.  I am craving warm weather!  We had the coldest month of March in history, and April hasn't been much better so far.  I hear it is supposed to be up near the 70s at the beginning of the work week, so perhaps things will dry out quickly and we will finally see bare ground!

I have tried my best to start spring conditioning with Snappy.  It is tough when there is either 2874655 feet of sn*w or now it is just wet enough that the white stuff that is left is too slushy to ride on without staving up the field.  


My "ring" is just too muddy, since it is really not a ring and just a paddock.  So I have had to make due with the 1000' dirt driveway for now.  It is not horrible, but it is far from ideal.

We hired a new farm worker hahaha.  He seems to be working out so far.  Wastes a bit too much clean sawdust when mucking out though!  ;-)



I finally gave in to …
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