Ugh

So, it's been raining here, off and on for about a week. Once the ground is just about dry enough to ride, it starts pouring down rain :/ As I'm sitting here typing this, it just started raining. Great. I might get to ride Diamond this weekend at a fun show. We are going to do barrels and poles. We will probably only trot the poles and maybe slow lope barrels :)

My friend got to go compete at the Junior Rodeo Finals in Gallup last week. She did great, but on her last run, hit the third barrel, causing her to lose. She's most deffinately going to go back next year and win it all!

Besides that, not much is going on. Hope you all had a great 4th of July!

Nationals

So, I'm back from Nationals! We are now 2x National Champs!! We got 1st in Youth, 4th in Theme, and 3rd in Naitonal. :D

Besides that, all is going well. Diamond is doing pretty good. I got on her yesterday for the first time in over a week. I lunged her before I got on to get her thinking and respecting me. She reared a few times, but that was fine. She eventually settled down. I then got on her. She did pretty well at first, but then decided to have a big buck. I stayed in my seat and backed her up. I also spun her in a few circles either way and then made her stand for a few minuets. After her hissy fit, she did what she was asked. I'm still working on her slow lope. I want her slow lope to be really good before I start loping the barrel pattern. She's getting better, just have to work at it.

I'm also probably going to start a new blog. I'll link it here: http://minyathepoa.blogspot.com/2010/07/history-of-minya.html

Enjoy your 4th of July!

Rodeo

Our rodeo went pretty well. I was unable to take Diamond due to the stress and no ride time I would have gotten with her.

Besides that, we rode in our costumes for drill. Our costumes consits of dresses and masks as our theme is Masquerade Ball. We had people, horses and dogs staring at us. lol It was a pretty good run though. A few dresses ripped due to trying to move our legs and things. Nationals is Tuesday!!! :D I'll be leaving Tuesday evening around midnight in order to haul in the coolness and without traffic. So pumped!

See you all after Nationals!

Drill

We had drill last night. It was a really nice night to go ride. I got to ride Diamond during warmup; then we just sat around and visited. She did really well, again! We were at a new arena, she hadn't been ridden or lunged in a week, and she acted like a perfect young lady. I get to take her to her first rodeo this weekend! :D I'm going to ride her in the grand entry. I'm so excited! I'm sure she'll do fine, she's not spooky at all! At the arena there were big tractors moving around, different horses, and cows. Not a single spook from her. She also slow loped again, which is amazing. She's coming around quite well and we've been getting asked if she's for sale XD I'll blog about the rodeo Saturday (or at least try).

Rain -_-

Sorry I haven't been blogging. This last week, I was gone camping as a counselor at a summer camp. Yesterday it poored down rain, cuased flash flooding, and we got about 1/3 of the yearly rain fall. Today is too wet to ride as we got up to 9 inches of rain yesterday. I get to ride Wednesday (tomorrow) for drill. My drill team reserved an arena that's indoor to practice at! Nationals is next week and nerves and stress are starting to seep in!

Diamond has gotten fat as I haven't been able to work with her. She's also turned moody again due to no work and all play. I get to ride her tomorrow at practice for a bit, so that'll help.

I'm also helping my friend look for her first horse :D She's excited that I can help and I'm excited she's letting me help. It's a good trade off.

I hope everyone's summer is going well! I'll blog probably Thursday! TTFN

Mwhaha

We had drill practice last night! Dia was Amazing again! Lots of comments on her and how well she was doing ;) She got to ride through the drill 2 times. once at a walk and once at a lope. Both times she was in different spots! And we had drill at a different arena again. That's a plus. This arena was by a pretty busy intersection. She handled it well and settled down fast. I didn't get to lunge her that much before drill because we were running late :( But she did well. I'm working on her slow lope. She did it last week, so I know she can do it. She just needs some practice. Drill Competition is just a few weeks away! Exciting! :D

Drill

So, we got an email yesterday before drill saying one of the novice team members wasn't going to be at practice. I told my mom to tell the coach that I would bring Diamond just to try her out. And I was glad I did. Oh my gosh. I've never meet (excluding 2) another horse that was so smart. She did everything she was told and was a freaking NATURAL at drill!!!!!! She did everything and got the drill down fast! By the third time, she was loping the drill and doing AMAZING. The coach complimented her several times and said she was a really good horse. She even texted me after drill saying how good Diamond was! Diamond is probably going to be my brother's drill horse next year :D That's exciting. I'm still working on barrels with her. I'm so blessed to get this horse so cheap and find out that she's super smart and very, very willing! :) I cannot wait to take her to more practices. She is a little warry of new places at first, but when I walk her around in hand for a little bit, she settles right down and enjoys herself. :DD

Drill Practice

Drill was alright. We had to practice at an indoor due to the rain. The arena was SMALL. Like really, really small. We couldn't lope. We had to trot. Not fun.

Anywho,
Diamond did well. This is probably her 7th (?) time to be hauled. I don't think she was hauled a lot by the old owners; she has bad trailer manners. She paws and kicks. Thank God summer is almost here; I can just take a day off and work strictly on trailering.
When we got to the place, you had to walk through 2 barns to get to the arena. Diamond did really well; she just was curious around the other horses and nothing major. She even ignored the stupid little stud that was going crazy in his stall.
I rode Diamond for a while. Not long though.. :( I thought I was going to ride her in the drill, but I guess not. I just rode her for a bit. Then my brother rode her. She did well for him! She was slow loping and obeying him.
She's getting really good at things and listening well. She's going to make a great horse!

It's a twister! It's a twister!

Yes. A twister did happen. 3 days ago it started to rain. I went out to feed before it stared pouring. I was just about to give everyone their grain when the sirens went off. Great. I live on an acerage, so sirens surround my house. It was crazy. I threw feed, opened their stall doors, ran through the barn, and to the house. I slipped and killed my knees on the house porch, but made it inside. It was scary, but we made it to the closet in time. The original path of the tornado was only 1/2 mile up the road, heading towards us. It changed direction and went opposite of our house thankfully. All the horses and cows were fine; just covered in mud the next morning ;P

Originally, I was supposed to go to Adult Drill team practice with Diamond, but the storm hit. I wasn't a very happy camper, but it beats riding in the rain!!

Tonight is youth team practice!! I get to take Diamond and ride her in the novice drill!!! :D Then I'm riding Blue in advanced youth practice. Only 39 days left til Nationals! That's not a whole lotta practices.. We are going back to defend our title as Youth National Champions! :)

I'll tell you guys how practice goes tomorrow *if* it's not cancelled.

Less than 3! <3

Hey guys! I rode Diamond yesterday! She was amazing. I had set up the barrels and was warming up around them. She actually tried to dive in on a barrel and turn it! After warm up, I walked the pattern a few times and then trotted. She was wanting, oh so bad, to run them!! She picked up on what I wanted her to do really quickly. I'm going to trot them for a while (at least another 2 weeks) until I know she is ready to maybe pick it up! She is an automatic horse and has the need for speed. She'll make a good college horse :D She is being very, very willing to do as I ask. I let her gallop around the arena a few times; man, she can fly. She loves it too! 2010 is ours! I can't wait til her first "show" of the season, which is Saturday! We are only going to trot the pattern, but she has a very fast trot :) That's it for now! Drill tonight, but I can't take her due to us having 4 horses and only a 3 horse trailer :/

New Roundpen!!

We got a new round pen! It's now a 70fter! Whoo! I tried Join-Up with Diamond and that went over pretty well! Diamond is doing really, really well! She is being really well behaved lately and doing everything I say. Oh! I rode her bareback and bridless in the roundpen! She responded very nicely to my commands; only a few mistakes. I'm going to take her to drill practice every week just to get her used to things. I'm also taking her to her 2nd horse show on Saturday! I hope she behaves. I'm going to ride her later today and hopefully get video up.

4/20/10-- First Lesson with Diamond

Hey guys!
I've joined a new 4-H group, the Saddle and Spurs 4-H Club. They give free lessons (mostly groups) in exchange for cleaning out the 4-H leaders stalls once a month! That's a great exchange, if you ask me! They use Clinton Anderson's methods, which I love.

So last night, I took Diamond to the lesson. Danette, the leader, watched me ride for a bit, gave me suggestions, and told me Diamond was a very smart and willing horse! She said I've been doing really well with her. :D She also said once Dia and I were ready, she had a trainer, named TJ, to help us learn sliding stops and roll backs!! YES!

I worked on leg pressure with Dia. We would walk around the arena and turn in circles at every corner to work on neck reining and leg pressure. She responded quite well. She was tired afterwards, even though all we did was walk because it was muddy.

That's all we did, but I'm going to work out some times with Danette where we are going to ride together and she'll help me more with Dia.

I live in a Bipolar state

Title is sooo true! The other day it snowed, then yesterday it was 70 degrees!!! Stupid Bipolar state. Anyway, I rode Diamond again :) It took me about 30 minuets to catch her. She stopped once and I thought I could catch her. As soon as i took a step she took off. I just made her run until she stopped and wouldn't move until i told her too. lol After I caught her and saddled her up, I went on a ride. Everything went smoothly. She did everything I told her except her leads. I tried to do what Kevin told me too, work her in small circles in the correct lead. She would not pick up the correct lead for the world. I know a lot of horses have this problem, but isn't it annoying?? I'm just going to have to work with her more. Plus, the nice weather went away and now it's raining -_- Also, Youth drill practice starts Sunday!! Yea!! Exciting! My youngest brother is joining! I'm happy :D Anyway, that's it for now.

Long time..No see -3/15/10

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't blogged in forever! My computer got a virus and died.. Thankfully, the amazing computer guy fixed it! Thanks Brandon! Anywho.. I've been riding Dia alot because winter is hopefully over! I took her to practice last night (woot! first drill practice I've been to this season!) and she would freak out with my mom. I just had my mom keep her by the post so she could see thinngs and get used to it. The thing was, she wanted to be out there doing drill! :)) Now, to be a little boastfull, the coach let me ride as just a fill in one time. It was freaking amazing!! I got to be a lead rider (freaking scary, but amazing!) and lead part of the team; something I have never done before. Blue, my gelding, did AMAZING for me and did his part beautifully! :D Now back to the reason I even blog: Diamond. So during a break during the drill, I decided to go ride her. I had just got the bridle on her when the whistle blew to get back on. Go figure. After the practice, my mom was walking her around the arena so she would relax. Diamond was amazed with everything. I got on her and rode her around and she instantly calmed down and listened to me. One of the dads (Kevin) is a trainer. He was watching me ride her. He said she was doing well except for 2 things: her tiedown needed to be tighter and she needed to be on the correct lead. I also needed to ride her in circles in the correct lead for a long time. He said she'll only get better with time!! After I adjusted the tie down, he told me to ride her in a small circle in the right lead. If she wasn't in the correct lead, break down and try again. It took me one buck (from Diamond), a few backing up steps and a break down to get her in the correct lead. She did really good and I relaxed easily and so did she. She was happy to go out and I even let her gallop a lap (which she had a blast!!). If I follow Kevin's directions, which I plan on doing, she will be a great horse. I'm going to start doing the circles more than barrels for now, just to get her used to it. After she's good and Kevin gives the ok, I'll probably work with barrels then. Also, we have our first rodeo in April! Less than 6 practices away! So exciting! Write ya later!

2-13-10, 2-14-2010 bareback ride

So I rode today; it was the first time in foreverdue to wet ground, snow, ice, etc. So instead of saddling up Diamond, I just hoped on her bareback and slipped on her hackamore (which meant no tiedown!!). Everything was going fine until she decided to rear. She reared twice, I got off backed her up and got back on. She reared again twice. I'm not one to smack or use a crop, but I smacked her shoulder and tried backing her up. She reared again. I went to the barn and grabbed a crop and got back on. When she reared again, I smacked her with the crop on the shoulder and backed her up. She reared again and it felt like she waas going to flip over on me. I got off, backed her up, and lunged her. I ended on a good note after that, but still feel defeated as she is now "dominate" over me when I ride her bareback. I hope we can over come this obstcale.

2-14:
Valentine's Day.
It was a great day, until my neighbor passed away. I couldn't ride today due to the snow on the ground and it was just too wet. It was hard to hear that my neighbor, who we had known for over 20 years, had died. My parents are not taking it so well.

1/21/2010 - Sunny Day

Tittle baisically says how today was! It was a nice 55F again today! I saddle up and got with it. I also filmed a little and once the vid is done, I'll post it.

So Diamond was a biotch today. She bucked and reared and threw a fit. I couldn't let her lope, it rained HARD last night and I didn't want her to slip. We loped a few strides, but trotted. If I ever win a million dollars, I'm building an indoor arena. I mostly just worked with her on being slow and controlled. She did alright.

Yeah, that's all for today. Off to hear a missionary speak. TTFN.

1/17/10- First time to ride in 2010!!

YAY! I rode yesterday for the first time in 2010. Which reminds me that I didn't fullfil my resoulution to write down my hours in the saddle this year.. Oh well.. haha.. I also got her a new rope nose hackamore! She responds much better to it and accepts it nicely.

Anyway, snice it was like 55F out, I rode! I didn't practice barrels because who ever devlivered ourhay put the round bale in the middle of my barrel pattern. Gah. I caught Diamond and she was pretty good. She is still learning to stand tied; she pawed and kicked and tried to rear while tied yesterday. Once she settled down, I groomed her out really well and she litterally fell asleep. I then helped my brother (who is a begginer) groom and saddle his horse. After he was finished, I went to get the blanket and saddle. Do you ever have a problem with saddling? Diamond has "all of a sudden" had a fear of saddling. I have no clue what her problem is besides she doesn't want to work. I let her smell the blanket and then I put it on her (after she continueously moved). As I was adjusting it, she nipped at me! Twice! I untied her and backed her up. The saddle was easier to put on then. Once I got everything on her, I lead her out of the stall so I could mout up. She then stepped on my foot, causing me to loose balance, fall on my butt, and then she thought she could just stand there on my foot. It hurt, but I finally got her to back up and off. Once I got on, she backed up. She wouldn't quit backing up, even if I said woah, or tried to kick and let her have her head to go forward. I told my mom, and she said to just make her back up the next time she did that; make it seem like a punishment. Diamond does this when she doesn't want to work, she has lots of quirks ;) Keep in mind, I haven't ridden her in a few weeks, due to weather and Holidays. So once we got going, she did pretty good. The only thing was that she bucked like 3 times and reared a few; which I took care of by backing and turning her in circles. Then we went to ride with my little brother. We loped a few strides (the ground was still soggy and I didn't want to risk anything) and mostly trotted. All in all, it was a pretty good day. Today is supposed to be 62F out. I'm going to finish school fast today and go ride my fat hayburners! Haha :) I'll hopefully post pictures tomorrow. Until then, TTFN or Ta ta for now!

No Barrel Pracitce for Dia and Me

Ok, so with Christmas past and New Years here (Yay 2010!!) it's been to cold to ride. Christmas Eve a blizzard came in. We had over 2 foot of snow (which is a lot for where I live) and the roads were horrible! The ground has either been a) soaking wet and mushy b) rock solid or c) covered in ice and snow. And now we are getting more bad weather in with more snow! Ugh. I probably can't ride until Feburary. Diamond is doing well. She is still a biotch when it comes to food (lol) but besides that is good. She is getting fat, like most horses do in the winter, but she is still a sweetheart. I was filling up the water trough yesterday and the wind was blowing cold and hard. She came up and stood by me to block the wind:) I love my baby girl. 2010 is our's! We should be starting the drill season soon as well; which is very exciting for both of us. Hopefully we can start riding again so I can start blogging again :) lol That's it for now! Happy New Year everyone!