Do right by me

Fresh-picked

So what did I do this weekend?

I rode in a lesson on Thursday and I felt bummed out (from live, overall) but the lesson went well. I decided I wasn’t going to ride in the horse show this upcoming weekend.

And then I rode Sat and Oats was good, and rode Sunday and he tried to buck me off! He was feeling spunky, and after some jump schooling (tiny x-rails ha) and some dressage work, he decided to try to turf me off because the dressage work was too hard! What a jerkface eh.

Oats enjoys an apple

And after that, I decided I wanted to ride in the show again?! And yet I told people I didn’t. What is going on in my brain? I blame the sunny weather- it makes me want to get up and get OUT THERE! And true it was sunny allllll weekend hahah.

So, we’ll see where I am this week. Maybe I will be deciding about the show right up until the very. last.minute.

Hahaha!

I did some crafts this weekend that went quite well, minus melting my mold on the element and burning my counter top. Oops!

Also went for coffee with a friend, so it was nice to catch up over a Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino. Yes the floodgates have burst open and BOOM! Pumpkin Spice everything! I even drank Pumpkin Spice Whiskey (Spicebox) this weekend, hahah. And had a Lighthouse pumpkin beer (it was ok, not as spiced as I would have liked I guess?).

Stay tuned for a crafty post 🙂

Dressage Show #2: QMS. Hmmph.

So, this weekend I was back at it- in the dressage arena.

Sidenote: Last time I showed dressage at QMS, I was just learning Training 1 and 2, and scored pretty respectably- in the low 60’s for sure.

Yesterday was not the case. AGAIN.

We hauled up well, warmed up really nicely, felt super chill and good! Oats was being a great boy. And then the tests..dun dun dunnn…

Yeah, got two mega-bucks in the exact same spot. Right lead canter circle, coming back around to close up the circle. I was circling around, felt him start to fall in, and got desperate, and yanked him around with my right hand. HE, on the other hand, did NOT feel charitable with this sudden turn of events and BAM BAM! bucked as hard as he could twice.

Noooooo!!! It was otherwise quite a respectable test. FUCK.

I was sitting there, like, totally stunned. Coach yelling at me to grab up my reins and keep going!!!

UGH.

The second test was quite distracted as well, with irritated me. I went 100% the other direction on my right-lead canter circle and dropped my inside rein. So, Oats broke into trot. Hahahaha…shit.

Wiggled-waggled our way down the centre line, something that is not normally an issue, and shame-faced a salute. UGH.

Oh well, our scores were pretty lousy, compared with last October. How is it that we are GETTING WORSE at dressage, when my general riding in dressage and other stuff is feeling like so much better? Does anyone have a good explanation? Cuz I’d love to hear it!!

Sigh…

Oats was very eager to get back on the trailer. You know, he warmed up great, was a good boy on the ground, and we got our perfect right-lead in the warm up ring after his little explosion. So…what is happening in the dressage ring?

Well, I stayed on this time, and I didn’t go off course. Small victories? Yeah I need them right now.

Hilariously, we were last in every test. Interesting, considering last year we were placing very well. ARGH.

Spring Fever?

My mom riding Oats a few years ago.

Oats was flying high the other day. Partly it makes me laugh, because he’s so amped up and raring to go, but also makes me feel nervous, because he can’t contain himself in his skin and WANTS TO BUCK SO BAD!

So, he did- buck that is. He tried to buck me off twice when we worked into the canter- once in each direction. I guess he appreciates symmetry? Everything you do with horses, you should do on each side. Not sure about the bucking though.

He was feeling sooooo good. And definitely decided to let me know about it! Head tossing, humping up and bucking. ARGH! I got after him, stayed on both times, and got some real work done.

I both hate and like when he’s amped, because then I have some actual pony to work with and can get canter work done without him balking or getting pissy off my leg (he loves this one) or threatening me when I crop him.

So we did a lot of canter work- circles, trot jumps, circle canter, canter through to bend/counterbend and he didn’t even try to swap on this one, which he can be counted on to do.

So that was nice! Despite his shenanigans earlier.

I think he has spring fever. And I didn’t ride Sunday (Buddy Holly day!) and shoot, didn’t ride yesterday, had a business meeting in the evening.

Tonight, before my lesson…I will be lunging Mr. Great Ball of Fire to get his yahoos out. (Note: this happens SO rarely for Oats, as his preferred gait is stop.)