HELP WANTED: NEWBIE WESTERN RIDER SEEKS E-COACHES TO SAVE HER FROM EMBARASSMENT

SOMETIMES............we are all we have!!!!!!!!!!!

rode last night with the friend i will be taking reining lessons with, got her to try my saddle/check its fit. she said it looked custom, and he was moving really well. she was also jealous of how comfy it was. im so happy!

im going to try to post pictures from my playbook, wish me luck

im pretty awesome.
i should probably go get ready for class.

looks great on your horse...still kicking myself.. :cowboyhound.gi haha
just noticed it seems to be lifting a bit in the back..maybe try thicker padding in the front

WOOO HOOO on the saddle..........and nope.....dont put more padding.....its like socks.....well, I have a theory on just about everything, and sometimes I should just keep them to myself.....hahaha....sorry........I think the saddle looks like it fits just lovely.......... :cowboyhound.gi

if i pad more it will be tight in the front, when i sit in it, it isnt high in the back, i think it just has to break in a bit, i can beleive the condition its in! thanks a million times rude :) and good luck hunting :)

Exactly like socks in a boot.............you are correct........... :cowboyhound.gi

thats what i was thinking, plus i LOVE my wool blanket :)

heres my crates supreme reiner FQHB on it's way from CA... :)) I'm hoping hopin hoping this one fits ..keep fingers and toes crossed

hey Rude, good luck with the fit.........Crates makes a really nice saddle....... :cowboyhound.gi

fingers and toes crossed for you!


didnt get to start lessons tonight, pony decided to step on a nail yesterday and was ouchy today. instead he got some soaking and a bandage, we may try again next week...

hoping to ride in the lesson tomorrow night, fingers crossed that angus stays as sound as he was tonight. last show of the season is this weekend, and i'd REALLY like to go...

fingers and toes crossed here........hope you get to go and have a blast. :cowboyhound.gi

didnt get to show, pony is getting worse, called the vet, he is coming friday, tearing my hair out :(

Shoot Twist......hope its something that can be fixed up quickly..........hugs to you both.

so... i guess vet school takes up some time? that and tending to an "injured" horse...
so the nail thing actually wasnt that bad, when i finally caved and called the vet in, he had a look at it, said i was doing a good job keeping it clean, but the tissue that had to be cut away from the puncture site (was infected/abscessed- treated with pen) was what was causing the limp. since it was right in the middle of the frog, his shock absorbing abilities were limited. his suggestion - the hospital plate for 3 weeks.

so my boyfriend made and installed one for me :)




we've had a few schooling rides (walk/jog) and a couple trail rides, and its working great, he feels a lot better (not ouchy)
i also like how it helps our spins... maybe i see sliders in our future :D

Just started reading your blog. I love it!!! Need more please!! :-)

thanks lightening :)

well.... i guess i have way less time now then i did during the summer!!!!
there's 8 days of classes left, then 2 weeks of finals! im still not getting over being in vet school :)

as for the riding... pony healed really well from his puncture wound, and we were back in business 3 weeks later.
We've been doing regular lessons with a reining coach, and the improvement in amazing. Having someone regularly teach me Angus's buttons ( as well as to tell me when he's cheating or ignoring me, lol) has made all the difference. With the assistance of a shiny new saddle (interestingly enough the exact same as my coach's, but in better condition!), we have even found Angus's jog, he's moving his shoulders more freely, Im way more stable and in better position, and consequently im way more confident, and his occasional spookiness is disappearing.

oh, and we won a reining trophy for this summer (jill- i dont wanna hear it, lol), but now we have a title to defend :)
plus its pretty cool to have my name on a trophy with my current coach :)



next summer's goal - showing off island.
its kinda scary, but super exciting too! the way i see it, i wont have time to show after 3rd year (due to rotations, assuming i make it that far :P), so ive got 2 years to prove what we've got. :D

alright, back to the books!

wow, I stopped breathing while reading that last bucking episode! I love the look of your Stb - when you say little, how many hh?

Thanks for reading! And she is kinda cute, isn't she? That's how she suckered me in to feeding her! Lol

Who's how many hh? Angus? My "QH"? He's about 14.1 on a good day, lol

"we have even found Angus's jog, he's moving his shoulders more freely, Im way more stable and in better position, and consequently im way more confident, and his occasional spookiness is disappearing."

I know what you mean here. After riding my Pinto Gelding Dylan for years now, he's 12, and with my coach's help, we have finally found his jog. OMG it used to be so bumpy that I had no choice but to post. I showed him at our local Ex here this year as well as a couple of fun shows. This is something I never thought I'd be able to do with him. We did AWESOME!!!! Congrats on your reining trophy and I hope to see you here in the Scotia for some of our reining shows. That's what I'm working on with Dylan now.

well we still have a long way to go.... but hopefully!!!

im so new to reining, i love to meet people who are dabbling in it as well, and their thoughts

angus got a massage and saddle fit yesterday (i love being in vet school :) ), and she said that his right side (our bad lead side...) was way less muscled. so... i guess we're gonna be doing some work on that side (lounging etc.) before we are in tip top shape. she also said the saddle fit very well (phew!)


exams are coming up, so i havent been riding much, and my coach is away... hopefully i will have more updates in the new year!

wow, i guess they're right when they say vet school takes up all your time!
1st semester over, and i didnt get any "call backs" (didnt fail anything). wooohooo!!!!

alright, so clearly i havent been riding much, and i definitely hadnt been posting. but we have been doing weekly (for the most part) lessons.

my coach is a slave driver. same guy from clinics, but this time its weekly torture :) plus he expects a lot out of angus, knowing his potential, so im forced to keep up, lol.

my fun stories tho always come from rides on our own. the first i have is riding angus is my new beautiful glorious saddle, and the weather was a bit windy, pony was a bit spunky, but i finally achieved the "im scarier than whatever it is your pretending to be afraid of to get out of work". then he found a shadow to spook at, and i honestly started laughing to myself, out loud - he started playing with the shadow like it was a cow. honestly, i'd never felt that before, and only the front end was moving, side to side. silly pony.... (cows in our future???? lol - if you've read this far, you can see how willing i am to try anything with this pony)

then my next was directly a consequence of exams. I agreed to take a study break with my lesson partner, and chose a snaffle bit and no spurs - i started only functioning on starbucks coffee, and had got a cold from exam stress, so i wasnt in top form... the ride was great, good for my brain to access this side again but realized i cant do the bending etc. exercises our coach has us practice with this snaffle, and my legs get worn out with no spur - (i honestly dont over use them - but he is very sensitive to leg pressure when i wear them, not so much when i dont... guess thats the lesson horse coming out, lol). anyway, my buddy wanted to canter, i said sure, so off we went. now, her horse is about a hand taller than mine, but angus moves like he's 16HH and her horse moves like he's 12HH, lol. so i decide to circle to get further behind her, at the same time she decides the sam thing. so i end up in a tiny tiny circle inside hers and realize something - i never tightened my saddle. im not sure how it happened, but in my fried brain i just analyzed the situation and went step by step. the saddle fits really well, but with all the weight on one side from our attempt to avoid collision, the horn was definitely not where it should be. i can remember it - i looked down, and was like "oh, i should probably so something" step 1 - take feet out of stirrups, step 2 - lean weight on pony instead of saddle, step 3 - slow down/dismount. I never once panicked, and as a result. neither did angus. this was a HUGE step for both of us. im so proud of him.
i managed to slowly hope off, while he slowly transitioned to a stop. i managed all this in the time that my riding buddy couldnt see me. i think she panicked after way more than i did at all.
and then proceeded to make fun of me on facebook, and tell everyone at our barn.

i still am getting "oh my godd, i heard what happened!" at the barn, and it takes me a while to figure out what they are talking about, since to me, it was not overly dangerous/scary/etc.

but have i mentioned i love my pony :)



he's getting a big new winter blankie for christmas.... and another haircut!

does anyone else have a horse that is a sweat machine in the middle of decemeber? like, i mean from nose to tail, soaked.

Good for you, what a great big accomplishment that was!!! Merry Christmas!!! All the best to you and your critters in 2012!!

what better time than early january to start writing down some goals.

the IRHA is bringing another reining trainer/coach over for a clinic, for which ive signed up for :) it will be interesting to get another coach's point of view and instruction, especially since i've only ever had one western coach. im still sticking to my weekly lessons, but the clinic will give us another event to gear up for.

my new goals in general are to eat better and be healthier (i know, cliche), and lose some weight. but mostly i want to be following my general beliefs and interests, so committing to riding, and getting prepped for show season 2012 is high on my list.

i know this clinician is well known by some on the forum, so im pretty excited to tell people how it goes! and what she thinks of angus :)