Overall theme of the day is ...

... Improvement!  My lessons w/ event trainer have been literally life changing, in the riding sense.  I got to ride both her stallion again!

AND ... I finally got to sit on the 4 star horse, woop woop!  Granted, the 4* horse was a trail ride followed by 45 minutes of walking, but STILL.  My butt sat on a horse bound for the Rolex CCI**** next year.  How lucky can a girl get??

So, I'm so thankful for the opportunity just to be able to experience that upper level feel and movement.  My old hunter trainer said her daughter didn't get to be the amazing rider she is today by riding the "bad" ones, as so many people say.  She got to where she is by having the chance to ride NICE horses, that taught her what a "nice" horse should feel like.

I've been riding lots of ponies; Puffin the puff ball Icelandic, Kiara (not so much since she got purchased.  BOO for me, but yay for her new owner!), and Kimmie (the gray Connemara).

When I rode Kimmie, it took me about 5 minutes to get her round, soft, and in front of my leg.  The previous 3 times I rode her, I EXHAUSTED myself TRYING to get her forward and round, and achieved maybe half a lap of actually having her engaged and her back up.  This last time, it was quick and simple, and she stayed nicely between the hand and the leg for most of my 40 minute ride.  The pony Puffin is mostly about WORKING him.  He's pretty fat, but he's super athletic.  I love to jump him around, and trainer is working with me on doing as little as possible.  I tend to want to "help" him by jumping up his neck, and we all know how that works out.

I took a lesson with honorary little sis Nicole on Rusty, and it was super fantastic.  I jumped around on a horse I'd never ridden, and it was just NICE to be able to focus mostly on ME, and fixing the myriad of bad habits I've developed over the years.  Rusty is another Pluto; an ex upper level horse of trainer's that is now a super lovely lesson horse that I don't get to ride hardly at all b/c she has to use him for her other students!  A year ago, I would have politely declined to jump around, focusing instead on flatwork, but I'm finally being brave and going for it!

I rode a SUPER nice older BTDT hunter named Partner last week.  He's another big, gray Trakehner, and though he has a bit of a spook to him, it was a lovely lesson.  Our first jump was almost enough to zap my confidence b/c he apparently HATES to trot jumps, and it was a horribly awkward and painful jump, but I took a deep breath, pushed back the fallen down brim of my helmet, pushed my heels down, and persevered until I was able to canter back and forth through a line perfectly.  He's just BIG, and I don't feel all that comfortable on a BIG horse.  Flat, yes.  Jump?  Not so much.  But it ended great, I'm happy. :)

Overall, I'm SO happy with the progress I'm making, and trainer treats me like any other part of the team.  I get to ride her 'fancy ponies' (for which she actually THANKED me, what??), I get to ride the nice sale horses, and I have my fun little pony project, which I'm loving.  Even though I miss my sweet, sassy little muffin man like crazy, it warms my heart to see him out competing with his new child at N, finishing on his dressage score like a good boy.  She's thinking of moving up to T this Fall, and I can't wait to hear all about it!  I'm lucky that I can still keep up with him, and I'm lucky the sale worked out and his new home is every bit as good as his old one was :)  I am very grateful for the situation I'm in now, and looking forward to continuing to improve and to sit on more fancy ponies :)

Here in the 11th hour ...

My favorite pic from our first show together!

There's finally a little action.  We move in 9 days.  NINE days. I've been preparing myself for the reality of moving Tiki 3000 miles across country since my barn owner is kicking us out, but it's beginning to look like maybe a little girl will get to love on him and spoil him :)  I've moved into actually wanting to sell him, believe it or not.  I was SO sad about my decision to put him up for sale, but upon reflection, I KNOW I'm making the right decision.  We are changing our life, and moving 3000 miles away ... on our own.  Paying our own way.  I have a responsibility to my family to get on top of my finances, and go back to school.  Paying for a horse at this point in my life is irresponsible; for all intents and purposes, I'm 18 years old again, just graduating HS with my entire life ahead of me.  Tiki has been tried by 2 ADORABLE 12 year old girls, and he would be PERFECT for either one of them; they just have to pony up the $$!  Praying we get things wrapped up by the weekend, because this is my LAST weekend in the state of GA.  Wow.

On the upside, having 3 people try him in 3 days means I've actually ridden the muffin 3 days in a row!  He has been a fantastic rockstar, really showing off his good side.  He's even thrown some nice, clean lead changes across a diagonal to prove he really CAN do them, good pony!

I've decided to continue this blog after I get moved ... because 4 Star Eventers will be 20 minutes away from where we'll be living.  I see some lessons in my future!  And I WILL have more horses; I want a pony some day.  And another OTTB.  Or 2, or 3;)  I take pleasure in the fact that I've transformed a skinny, terrified 5yo ottb to a mature, confident 10 year old.  I took him over his first jump, took him to his first show, and taught him trail riding is FUN.  Now I get to pass him along to someone that will love him just as much, if not even more than I do.  Thank you to any of my readers that have passed along his information, it was a hard decision that I'm finally good with.  I'm excited to continue sharing my adventure as I take this fork in the road of Life.  Hope you all are doing great!  I know I finally feel optimistic again instead of sad and terrified:)

Announcement!

First of all, had 2 GREAT rides this week so far!  I say so far because honorary little sis Nicole is flying in from NY to come ride this weekend!!!  Yay!!!  So I will see her on Sunday and hopefully ride.  I say hopefully because there is a 60% chance of tstorms ... :(

Secondly, the news you've all been waiting for!  If you're especially observant, I actually spilled the beans a few months ago, on the "about me" box to the right.  Drum roll ... we're moving to California.  This is the big, driving reason I'm trying to sell Tiki.  If he doesn't sell in the next 3 weeks, we will plan to take him with us, which will seriously put a damper on our travel plans.  We already have the 5 day route planned and mapped out ... taking Tiki will really mess that up because now we'll have to find places he can stay overnight.  Ugh, the STRESS of it all!  I've lowered his price by almost HALF my original asking price, HOPING someone will bite.  I can't let him go for nothing ... he's sound, young, experienced, and I've put SO much time and money into him.  It's not like I'm asking 100K for him ... 8K is incredibly reasonable, overly so!  I just don't have much time left.  So, if any of you know someone looking in GA ... PLEASE send them my way!

We're moving to Sacramento.  It's SO beautiful there.  There's actually a big eventing barn about 15 minutes from where we'll be living with board slightly lower than what I'm paying now.  That's where he'll live if he ends up coming with us.  If  he sells, I plan to still go out and hang out there and get to know Cali horse people, maybe even take a lesson here and there.  They're in the process of building a big xc course, so maybe I can get involved in that, do some volunteering and what not.

Rode the red head Monday, and he was just lovely.  I put on his cc saddle and the hunter bridle, which currently has the HS D-ring on it, and I literally did the ENTIRE ride as circle, reverse across diagonal, circle, reverse across diagonal, rinse and repeat.  Even at the canter I did this!  I've had to suck it up and ride with a crop the last few rides because the dressage trainer across the street has borrowed my spurs and has yet to return them ... so my legs are getting in some good exercise!  I HATE riding with a crop because it makes my arm stiff, but having to do it has made my arm a little better.  He started out a little on the stiff side because he's basically sat doing nothing for 2 weeks, but as per usual, he relaxed into the exercise and just got better and better.  At the canter, I halted across the diagonal, walked a few steps, then picked up the new lead.  That way he didn't stress about whether we were going to do a flying change, and he didn't get 'pulley'.  I had a single x-rail set up, and I cantered him over it, reversed, picked up the canter, circled, then cantered it off the opposite lead.  We both felt really good.  He didn't change to the jump, I counted down from 5, and all our distances were perfectly good and acceptable.  Love my boy!  He is so wonderful.  Jumped it probably 6 times then called it a day.

Today I slapped on the dressage tack, and we did some stuff in Star's pasture down in the front field.  He was a brat when I mounted, and I had to halt, back, then get off then back on again.  Star wasn't helping because she kept coming over and trying to investigate as I got on.  Fortunately, 2nd time he remembered his manners and we walked down towards the road.  After a brief time walking both directions, I went to the trot.  The fenceline is weird in that pasture, it's not straight, so I worked on sticking with a rectangular arena with nice, square corners, but I had to ride it off my eye.  Easier said than done!  Especially when a previously mentioned Morgan mare decides to come down with you and graze RIGHT in your way.  Alas, I was able to work around her, and did pretty well with my track.  I did some huge serpentines all over the pasture, working all the way from one end to the other.  I focused on his bend, his step, and the flexion ... he did great with it!  Heading towards the road, it's slightly downhill so he wanted to get a flat and quick, but I regulated my posting and half halted, and good to go!  I ended with a HUGE centerline exercise, basically trotting right up the center of the pasture.  There is SUCH a long centerline dong that!  I sat the trot, and did left shoulder-in, switch to left haunches-in.  Then come back, adding in a few circles along the way, and repeat right.  Then do it again, this time L S-I to R S-I and back again.  Then, pick up canter straight on centerline, circle, come back to centerline, walk simple change, and circle other way.  That was HARD.  The area I was asking him to circle on was very uneven, and I'll be DANGED if the boy didn't feel AWESOME.  Light, balanced, and just full of try and effort.  I did that a total of 3 times, then let him be done.  Awesome day, I will be sore tomorrow!  If we don't get rained out Sunday, I want to jump a little bit :)

Healing

Tiki loves his kitty

Well, it's been a week since literally laying Timbre in the ground, and my heart has finally stopped outright hurting.  I kept it together pretty well for the most part, and I'm finally adjusting to my "new normal".  I have 2 other "fur babies" that need my time and attention, and I can't dwell on my feelings of loss with regard to my wonderful partner of 14 glorious years.  I HAD that time with him, I got to send him over the bridge on MY terms, and my MIL is concentrating on making his grave a beautiful memorial to his life.

I didn't ride at all last week.  I've been feeling a little bit overwhelmed, and if I'm being honest with myself, a little bit depressed.  I vowed to shake it off this week, and for the most part I have.  Put out a 'paid' ad for Tiki, and lowered his price on my sale blog page, and I'm finally starting to get a few nibbles.  STILL praying as hard as I can for a teeny tiny lottery win so he can continue to be mine, but barring that, trying to motivate myself to market him a little more aggressively.  Soon, y'all will find out the main reason I'm sacrificing a large chunk of my happiness, but first there are still moving parts that need to be finalized.  Soon, my friends:)

I rode the gorgeous red head yesterday and today.  Put on the dressage tack, and employed once again a Jeff Cook type flatwork exercise.  He was out at PWF last weekend, and I audited all day on Saturday.  I just love him.  I WISH so much I could have ridden in it, but hey ... I got to watch!  I focused on using half the arena at the time, paying lots of attention to his straightness and my track, and his bend as I approached the fence.  He felt VERY stiff on the right rein.  Left, all felt light and lovely.  Right, I felt like we both were struggling a little bit.  To be fair to him, I also have not done much at all exercise wise in the last 2 weeks, so I probably wasn't much of a help to him.  I INSISTED that he maintain his flexion through the poll, and closed my legs every step to squeeze out of him as much movement as he could give me.  A friend borrowed my spurs, so I was riding sans any artificial aids!! :0

I rode him for probably 40 minutes, just doing the half arena exercise and going back and forth, and LOTS of circles.  I trotted several poles and worked on maintaining rhythm and power.  Rather than cantering a bunch, I worked trot/canter/trot transitions.  At the end, I was pretty pleased.  He settled into a nice and steady contact, and gradually that right side loosened up and I felt like he was more willing to bend his body rather than tilt that head.  Success!

Today we just walked hills.  Nothing fancy!  He was pretty forward considering I was still spur-less.  I actually dropped my stirrups on the uphill and sat hard, opened my hands to encourage him to breakover at the poll, and used my seat to create as much energy as possible.  On each downhill, I halted and backed a few steps to work on building up that back end, ALWAYS!  Finished with a nice long rein hack through half the pasture, and gave him a bath.  His coat looks so great right now, I love that deep copper color.  Here's to moving forward:)

Garnering compliments!

All dressed up for his first lesson with Gigi Nutter

Decided to go with a dressage school in Star's pasture today.  The footing was fantastic in the field, and even though Star LOVES to continuously creep closer and closer to us while we're working, he was remarkably good.

Before I ever picked up a trot, I did some leg yields and circles.  He is so lovely and forward in the pasture, I never have to nag him when we're out there.  Unlike the other day, he didn't trip once today, yay!  I swear, he forgets where his feet are sometimes when he's not in the ring.  Upon picking up the trot, he tried to drift closer and closer to his "mare", but I put my leg on and rode him forward into the contact.  If you've never tried to keep a horse straight in a rolling field with no fence ... try it some time:)  It's dang hard!  I did lots of circles, lots of nice tight figure 8's, and some quality work doing shoulder-in and haunches-in.  The first few times I did haunches-in, I lost his shoulders.  Moving forward, I focused on keeping his body straight, then moved his haunches off the track.  Good Muffin!

When I transitioned up to the canter, it was light, lovely, and beautiful!  I engaged in some circles, leg yields, and asked for a L-R change.  Fail.  Back to left lead, asked again, got half.  Back to trot, back to left lead, asked, nothing, asked again, clean change.  No more changes!  Back to trot, did some transitions to 1 or 2 steps of walk then back to trot, and popped off a few small figure 8's changing leads through the walk.  Other than a hand full of scrambling into the canter, the transitions were superb considering we were in a pasture ... with a horse in it!  LR will come out this weekend hopefully, but I will probably ride tomorrow.  Not sure yet what we will do, I'll figure it out tomorrow!

The compliments I was referring to is a boarder that hasn't seen Tiki in a while commenting on how much better he moves now.  She says he's like a different horse:)

Enjoying the 2 week GA Spring

I think we get about 2 weeks of Spring here in GA.  You know, the fabulously sunny days with a nice, cool base to it?  It was positively magnificent today!  Warm, but not hot.  No pollen in the air.  Perfect day to ride the Muffin!

He's been off for awhile.  I didn't get to ride him last week before leaving for IEA National Finals in Syracuse, NY on Thursday, and LR hasn't been out lately, so his fitness level is waning slightly:(  Little booger was tired after his ride today!

I went up to the ring to set some jumps, but the ring was hard as a ROCK, so I changed plans.  I haven't ridden in his pasture since I did some hill work in the draw reins, so I decided to ride back there.  Tacked him up in his normal cavesson bridle, and set off at a brisk walk.  Tiki's pasture is fairly large; about 20ish acres.  I walked the entire perimeter of the pasture, going up and down hill, and weaved through rocks, holes, and ant hills.  After walking a full lap, reversed and trotted a lap each way, then cantered a lap each way.  The canter was tough!  He wanted to break a few times on me, and at the trot he was quite literally tripping over his own feet.  I'm not all that sure he's actually worked outside the ring since his Poplar horse trial.  As I knew he would, Tiki got with the program and finished up great.  As I pulled him up to the walk, I could feel him huffing and puffing.  Poor baby!  It's supposed to rain pretty good tomorrow, so maybe the footing will be good on Thursday.  I'd like to jump around a little bit this week.

For Sale: Ricochet

Ricochet, aka Tiki.
Registered Jockey Club name:  Roy's Legacy:  Tiki's pedigree

Please contact me at dakotawyatt2002@yahoo.com for more information, or to schedule a showing

Tiki is my heart horse.  I HATE to sell him, but here he is.  I KNOW someone braver than me can do GREAT things with him, whether it's in the "straight jumper" ring in the Junior/A/O jumpers, OR in the Eventing world, Prelim+.  I'm just not brave enough to ever do more than Training, and he has so much more jump and heart than that.  Circumstances warrant a sale right now ... I hope he can find someone else that will love his beautiful little red butt as much as I do.

10 year old gorgeous chestnut Thoroughbred.  NO vices.  I mean NONE.  Willing to give you whatever you ask of him.  No spook, no bad attitude, will try his heart out.  Super brave to the jumps, no issues with fillers or oxers, etc.  VERY adjustable.  He does have a good, clean change.  In my schooling videos, I tend to ask for simple just because. I have had his hocks injected once, but not again.  I am the one that got him off the track back in August of 2008.  I have done 100% of his retraining by myself.  He loves trails, both alone and with friends.  I have done several hunter paces with him; he can go from full out race horse gallop back to mosey on a loose rein.  He is voice command enough that I have flat out galloped him in a field in his halter; just say WHOA and sit back and he comes RIGHT back to you.  Currently, he eats Triple Crown Senior, plenty of hay, and gets a monthly Adequan injection.  No other maintenance.

He will currently pack my butt around the 1.0m jumpers and the Novice eventing ring.  I was set to debut at Training this year, but a lack of funds has prevented that debut.  He successfully schools Training, and Prelim; he LOVES running xc.  I've done a LOT of hunter type training with him, so he jumps around nice and steady with a good rhythm vs. running at the jumps.  Super light, doesn't need a big bit or lots of hardware.  Absolute bottom dollar price is $8,000.  I'm moving to California on June 27th, and need to sell him NOW.  He's sound, kind, quick, careful, brave, and bold.  He can take a joke.  NOT a stopper; he's never run out at a fence.  Here's a few videos and pics:

Feb 2013 Poplar dressage video
This test is the only competition footage I have of him.  It was a good test, scored in the low 40's; it was the rider's first ever test, and she rode it like an equitation test!  The low 40 score reflected the lack of overall forward; she was focused so much on quiet and relaxed, she didn't quite push him into the bridle a whole bunch.
Schooling at home; back in Dec of '12

Jump course
I didn't initially post this video because my severe lack of an ability to find a distance really makes me cringe; not to mention the extra 40 lbs that is VERY obvious, eek!  But it shows how well Tiki can jump despite his pilot, and it shows he does indeed have flying changes.  I just prefer to do simple changes at home!

Long flatwork video. About half way through is when he settles in really well.

First time he's ever SEEN this jump

Training level corner

Ditch that's full of water

First time over this Novice level table; he'd never laid eyes on it

Novice 2 stride

3'3 vertical

Training level trakehner

Easy hop off the banks

Prelim table

Prelim cabin