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Showing posts from April, 2017

NER United States Pony Club Show Jump Rally - July 20, 2019

Ellie and I had SO MUCH FUN at our first Pony Club jump rally this year.  We drove up to Clay Brook Farms, where we had our D-1/D-2 rating, in order to compete for the day on July 20.  This happened to be one of the hottest days of summer, so the organizers modified the schedule a bit.  Instead of doing two rounds in the morning and one in the afternoon, we all did just two rounds (with a ten-minute break in between) all in the morning, so we were done and headed out just after lunch.  
Everything ran so smoothly despite the condensed format.  We were able to do our formal inspections right before we mounted up, and we were all encouraged to limit our warm up time.  We were not allowed to wear jackets, and there was a TON of horse water and ice cold human water available at numerous stations around the field.
I was competing with Epona Pony Club, but I was again put on a Horsemaster team with two other adults from Foxcroft Pony Club, Angie and Beth, the two riders I competed with at the…
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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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