Snow...Again!

Well it is snowing...again. Its below zero again too. Which ultimately means I am not brave enough to go outside, tack up Ben and ride him or Watson. Ugh. Snow in April. It is so gay. Bla. So me no ride for a little bit.

Whooo! 18 Degrees

Wow. Today was amazing. I get home from an awesome day at school to 18 or 20 degree weather. Shorts and a tank top type weather. Of course i rode though. I got Ben, tacked him up and we rode out to the field. We tried herding Watson out of the field in to the smaller one but it didn't work so i just got off and chased him in. It started great but didn't really end so well. I ride with music and that helps me to concentrate and usually Ben is good. He just had so much energy today. We were trotting good at the beginning but when i started cantering and jumping he got bad. He wouldn't stop. I'd have to canter him in smaller and smaller circles to slow him down. He rushed the jumps and took off after them. I just took him in.

I lunged Watson after and i am glad i did. HE bucked and kept crow hopping the first few minutes with the saddle on. He had to get used to it again. Tomarrow i'll lunge him again and put the bridle on.

Fun Fun Fun

Rode Ben again today. Around 11 in the morning. The farrier had come around 8 and trimmed his feet nicely. Fixed, or at least i hope he fixed the crack in Ben's hoof. I saddled Ben up around 11 and rode him out in to the field/arena area. He did really well today. A bit frisky at first but calmed right down after a circle or two at the trot. He was amazing trotting though. I swear the horse is finally grasping the concept of bending around my leg. It made me smile a lot. I didn't have my ipod today and i'm thinking riding without music is better for me. It'll help me concentrate on the horse more. I cantered him a bit today too. He went amazing on the left lead. Not so great on the right. He cuts in and won't circle, its frustrating but i'll get around it. I jumped him over a few cross-poles today too. He was amazing. He still rushes them a bit but he'll learn not too.

Rant

Alrighty I finally got to ride again. I only rode for about fifteen minutes and it was alright. Throughout the trotting circles Ben was good. Bending more then he usually does around my leg which is amazing because the big brat usually counter bends. Ugh. So the trotting was good. Then i cantered him which wasn't the greatest. The ground was really wet so it was slippery and soft. He felt so bumpy even when on the right lead. It just wasn't the greatest. He rushed the cross rail I had up and didn't get the correct lead on the right rein like twice. Over all a fairly frustrating day.

Plus!!! My teacher is getting very frustrating. He talked to my mom the other day. Aparently I 'glide' through my classes and am really disrespectful to my teachers. He's really mad at me. Probably all because I didn't tell him somethign I told my best friend. Ugh. So a really frustrating day. The last thing to rant about...my friends boyfriend was treating people like shit today and being a total jacka$$. She doesn't even realize it though.

The good side of today was I got to ride, chat with a friend for like an hour and my boyfriend loves me.

Shoo Shoo Snow

It was horrible. I didn't get to ride today due to the fact that it snowed all last night and all this morning. It was horrible, didn't stop snowing till after lunch. So it was a no ride day. I have nothing more to say other then it sucked!

Ups and Downs

Rode Ben again today and well the title speaks for itself. He came when called which was a great relief to not have to tramp through the mud to get him. Watson wouldn't even come near me which is starting to frustrate me and worry me a little. Ben had his daily carrots and i quickly tacked him up. He's not shedding so much which is a relief for my clothes. I took him right out to the field cause I really wanted to start riding. He was actually amazing when i rode. We trotted a lot of circles and loops before I asked him for the canter. He went into the canter like the old pro he is. After about the 2nd twenty meter circle he decided he wouldn't stop. HE started going faster and eventually I just got tired of it. I slowly made the circles smaller until he was cantering what I guessed to be a ten or fifteen meter circle. It was pretty darn small. After that I set up a small cross rail to see if he'd pop over it nicely. He did and he landed on his correct right lead!. I am so so so so proud of him. That is his difficult lead. I popped him over the jump about twice more before trotting him in a few more circles and taking him in.

Now here is where the downs come in. He was following me around the corral, his reins over his neck. They are split reins so when he stretches his neck out enough they can fall off. I was talking to my mom as he walked along behind me. I turned back to look at him and noticed like a second too late. One of the reins slipped off his neck and he stepped on it. He yanked his head up and of course something had to break. The side of the bridle snapped in half. My awesome leather western bridle is broken! I was so mad at myself. We got the bridle from an old friend who is now dead. If we don't get it fixed we just lost something to remind us of him. Plus, plus, Ben's mouth had a little blood in it. God, I am such and idiot.

Thankfully mom wasn't too mad. We're gonna take the bridle in the get fixed and I'm always gonna remember how dumb i am. Plus I have to figure out whats going on in Watson's head. Fun fun fun.

2nd Ride of the Year

Woohoo. Second time riding Ben this year and it went great. He is my 13 year old, buckskin colored, Fjord/Arabian gelding. I hadn't ridden him since the beginning of December and i was eager to get back on him. So i did. He was incredibly muddy today and is shedding like crazy. But hey, he's a horse, its bound to be like that a lot. He came when i called and i saddled him up. Lucky for me he just stands there. I never tie him up anymore, cause he waits till I'm ready to go. So after saddling him up i hopped on and walked him around our corral a few times. I was chatting with my grandpa while i warmed him up. I walked and trotted him a few times in each direction and he was so calm. Just like i expected. After that grandpa wanted to go work in the garage so i took Ben out to the field. Its about 2 acres{i think} of open space, that's only fenced with electric fence. The electric fence wasn't turned on though.

I trotted him a lot in both directions. He has so much energy out there and he tried to take off a few times but i just circled him. After a while he calmed down. I trotted him a few more times before asking for the canter. He hadn't been worked for a while and was crazy so he went wild. It took a second to get a calm canter and then we did a circle or two. I was about to ask for a trot when he did take off. He bucked once and started running. We have some of the fence on the ground and he was going towards that so i pulled on him and he practically slid to a stop. Surprised me a bit and i scolded him for the running off but it was cool. I trotted him a little more and trotted him over a few ground poles before talking him in. We also splashed through a huge puddle that came up to his knees in one part. HE got insanely muddy. Hopefully in a week or so I'll be able to jump him.

Jess

First Post!

Well this is my first post in my new blog. Not exactly sure what i'll have here yet. Probably a bunch of crap about my day to day life. I'll tell about my horses, the work i'm doing with them. I'll talk about my friends, my boyfriend, my family and my school life. I'll probably even talk about my job. Although its not that interesting. Or at least one of them isn't interesting. And i'll defintaly be putting pictures up. I have 2 horses and a digital camera. You do the math. Well first posts need to be short - don't ask me why - so this is it. I'll talk more later.

Jess