Sunday, October 30, 2016

Update

Well, I am bad at posting, let's just face it. However, I do think y'all are in need of a update, so here goes!

Seeing that I haven't posted since August 25th, I have quite a bit to inform you on. I took Ollie to a show in September. He placed Overall Highpoint in English and Reserve in Western, but I wasn't happy with his performance. He was sassy and irritable. He was fussing over everything and acting a little bit spooky, which is unlike him. So, I decided he just needed a break. I wanted shows to be fun for him, not a burden.


A week or so later he got even more irritable, and shortly after I found out why. An abscess had been brewing in his hoof. He got more and more lame, so we had the vet out. The vet said for me to soak his hoof in Epsom salts every morning, and wrap his hoof. So I did that, and the abscess burst. But it burst up near his coronary band, and some of the infection went up into the leg. He got a fever, and cellulitis. His whole leg up to the knee was hot and swollen. So, poor Ollie went on antibiotics, a standing leg wrap, as well as continuing the soaks and hoof wraps. The vet came out a second time, and Ollie hadn't improved much. His limping was better, but he was still really limping. The next day, another abscess burst in his heel bulb, and then two days after, a third one came. After the third abscess burst, Ollie was left with a deep three inch horizontal line across his heel bulb where the abscesses had burst. Still slightly off, I had the vet come out again for a third time. Luckily, the vet said he is just in the healing process, and it would take longer to heal because the heal bulb moves from the pressure of the hoof and with Ollie always walking, but that the worst was over.



Now, Ollie is much better, but is still healing, so I haven't ridden him in about 4 weeks. Because Ollie is off on "vacation", I have temporarily adopted Sherman as my horse for me to ride until Ollie is healed and content.




 I am finding Sherman to be quite the horse! He is extremely fast at the lope or gallop, but also surprisingly level headed and clam. If you ask him to slow down he will, and he doesn't get crazy eyed over some of the things I was expecting him to. I took him on a trail ride with my mom and Mrs. June on Wednesday and he didn't blink an eye at the noises, traffic, water, bridges, or even the mountain bike hills. He and I went up a few of them, and instead of gaining speed to go up the hill, he would just dig his toes in the dirt and walk/shuffle on up. He had the "I got this" air to himself, and he performed like a champ. 





I also had the opportunity to sell a horse for a friend a few weeks back, and that was a very fun experience. Mr. Charley ended up going to a great home in Grand Junction, but I will miss him. He was such a sweet horse.



Now, I think I have you all caught up in the happenings of my horsey life. I hope to post more but with my day being so impromptu I cannot guarantee anything. To those that still read this blog, thank you for hanging in there with me! 
~Alyssa 

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Happiness


This is what happiness is....


...and I really need my hat shaped. :)

~Alyssa

Monday, August 15, 2016

August Show-Reflections


Ollie did really well this show. Of course, lots of things to fix and improve, but I am proud of how far he has come.

In this blog post, I am reflecting over what I need to fix, and what needs to be tweaked.

In the June 25th Show, Ollie:

Pros:
Trotted nicely
Was friendly with the other horses
Walked, trotted, and loped when asked
Stopped easily
Willing to try hard for me

Cons:
Loped too fast and without collection
Loped on the wrong lead on his left
Didn't set up fast enough for the judge during inspection
Didn't respect the bit enough
Didn't like to walk over the Bridge
Didn't want to sidepass
Little bit too lethargic


I spent the next 35 days (he got some days off after the show) working on his lead changes, a more collected lope, better neck reining, and more respect for his bit. I also decided to enter him in English classes.

(June) Wrong Lead, head up in the air, fighting the bit slightly. 

(August) Correct lead, head lowered, slack reins. 

His showmanship set up improved a lot as well.

He....
 Side-passed much better
Crossed the Bridge easily
Respected the bit much more
Slowed his lope
Picked up the correct lead every time I asked
Pivoted much better
Listened well


His back up needs to be more straight-both on the ground and under saddle. 




However, the things I want to fix on Ollie this month are:

Better neck reining
Holding his collection for a longer time
Lowering his head a little bit more
Being sharper on his showmanship
Sharpening my pattern classes
Backing up straight

..As for myself, I want to:

Lower my hands in Western classes
Put my leg farther back when riding English
Be sharper on my Quarters in Showmanship
Pick up the right Diagonals during the posting trot


Ollie and I have our work cut out for us, but we just keep chipping away!




~Alyssa





Sunday, August 14, 2016

Aurora Horseman's Association Show-August 13th

Hello Everyone!

Well, yesterday Ollie had his second horse show. We've been working hard at home, and it REALLY paid off.

I also got 1 other 2nd and 1 3rd not pictured. :) 

Ollie and I placed 2nd in Halter....


1st in Showmanship...


1st in English Pleasure...


As well as 1st in both English Equitation and  English Pattern..

(I have no pictures from Pattern and Equitation...so here is one of my practice pictures). 
After a lunch break, I switched to Western and spent some time practicing...




Placed 1st in Pleasure...



2nd in Horsemanship and Pattern...

..and placed 2nd and 3rd in Western and English Trail. 

5 1st's, 4 2nd's and 1 3rd won Ollie and I both English AND Western Highpoint!!


With that, we won 10 ribbons, 2 plaques, and a AHA Highpoint Dover Saddlery monogrammed Saddle Pad. So thankful for this horse! 

Next Show: September 10th. 

~Alyssa 



 









Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Lope Transformation


January

February-March

April-May

June




Today


Big difference!! So proud of this boy!

Next show in 10 days. :)
~Alyssa




Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Aurora Horseman's Association Show-June 25th

Last Saturday, Ollie and I made our little show debut at a local show called Aurora Horseman's Association.
I have been working with Ollie for months prepping for this show. He still is very far from where I want him, but in the end I'm hoping for him to be a Ranch Riding horse, not a Western Pleasure mount. Nontheless, he did great for his first show, picking up 4 3rd place, 1 4th, 2 5ths, and 3 6ths. We entered 10 classes, and placed in each of them, which I was excited about! I used two bits, but sadly my family didn't get any pictures of his Horsemanship and Equitation in the curb. Overall, we competed in Halter, Showmanship, Western Pleasure, Western Equitation, Horsemanship, Western Trail, Keyhole, Barrels, and Wild Card. 
In Halter, he did extremely well. I had my horse trainers, mentors, and friends here at this show. I actually showed with a very good friend of mine who placed 3rd overall High-point at the AQHA Silver Dollar Circuit in Vegas this year, and was Circuit Champ in Trail at that show as well. I love all the support and critique I get from multiple horse savvy people. :)  After each run we would pick apart what I needed to fix, and what Ollie needed to improve on. Training takes a long, long time, but it's so worth it! 
I was a little slow on my Quarters.

After Showmanship and Halter (which he placed 3rd in each class....if I was standing on the right side of the horse for Showmanship I would've placed higher...whoops) we had a break while English went, and then Ollie and I got ready for Western Pleasure.


He still really needs to bring his nose in, raise his back, and shorten his stride. It is hard for him to hold a collected lope for long periods of time, so I didn't even ask for a collected lope during the whole show. 
 We then went into the practice ring.......


....and then was judged in Western Pleasure, Equitation, and Horsemanship. 



Extended trot lol....






Then I took a quick break, and saddled up for Gymkhanna. I was just going to let Ollie run like he used to, because we have been working on a "slow button" for so long.

I don't know what I'm doing here....

Yes, I am riding in a CLINTON ANDERSON SADDLE (!!) because I bought it a few months ago and forgot to blog about it. I have a picture of Clinton Anderson and I on my Instagram. 

We practiced the Keyhole a few times to warm up...



...and then we ran. Of course, we actually had a run every 30 minutes or so because of all of the people attending, so during that time I met some new friends...
Left To Right: Lillian, Kyle, Me, Alex (I already know her well lol) and her mom, Mrs. Tanya. 


Keyhole






Then we did Barrels....(I'm laughing because he was SO SLOW). 






And lastly, we did Wild Card. I don't have any good pictures of it, though. 



Afterwards, I just did a little bit of work with him to bring him back down from all of the speed events (which we mostly placed 5-6th in because I have slowed him down...and because he was tired). 

Me...doing something. Idrk what exactly...




Overall, I had an amazing time, and I cannot wait until the next show. August 13th AHA Show, here I come, with both a better horse and better rider!!

~Alyssa