Weekend update

It was a beautiful weekend down here in Florida.  There was a certain large show going on where the pony lives, and after my normal 60+ hour week, and before having to work Sunday, I took the opportunity to head down for some judging and a little pony time.

Advanced one stride to water out to HUGE skinny corner.

Unfortunately, because I can't take Friday off this time of year, and they moved the Advanced up to Friday because of the volume of entries they have this year, I was doing just Prelim and Training again.  And it wasn't even all of those divisions!  Shoot, there were 3 divisions of Training Horse alone!

So I was up at 4:30 and out the door by 5 to get to the farm in time to get my assignment.  I got some good ones to watch again this time.  The courses rode pretty well.  There were some refusals, and a few falls, but nothing that seemed to center on any one fence, and nothing that was too serious...during the courses.  The warmup did have to have medical called over a couple of times because of some pretty horrific looking crashes, but even those didn't result in real injury. And there was only one horse that took off back to the barn, sans bridle, lol.

There's stuff going on, you know!

I spoke with Marcy before I headed up and asked about her week.  She said that she took Violet out back behind the barn and worked her on Thursday and she was fantastic.  Like, people were asking who that was and was she competing her.  Apparently, Ginny made the suggestion that we think about getting the little girl a record.  You know, something more than just unrated schooling shows.  Since we are on the property, rated shows there are not that expensive ($200 as opposed to $500).  I have amassed all these vouchers that I don't use through judging, so I believe the pony will be making her rated debut at BN on April 2. Friday, Marcy got a non-compete number and took Violet up to the warm up area to work there, so she could see how she is with all the activity.  She was a little distracted, more by the cows across the street than anything else, but was really really good.

After she told me that, I thought, ok great.  It wasn't until I was driving home that the importance of that hit me.  She rode Violet up at the warm-up...in public.  There were people there watching.  People like Karen O'Connor. People warming up their horses, like Buck Davidson, Lauren Keiffer, Jennie Brannigan.  And she rode my little pony up there, not embarrassed or anything, because damnit, Violet is PRETTY, and there is talent there.  She is going so well.  Marcy said she had her out there working on counter canter and it was like no big deal.  So...wow.

Hi!

I spoke to the pony as I went by a couple of times.  She's on day turnout right now because we have to consolidate fields during season, and she's good with whenever you turn her out.  She was really happy because day turnout means warm sand and sun for napping! (Tried to get a picture but she thought there might be treats involved and got up).

Violet and Dan.

After my judging (which I will go over as soon as I get the media figured out.  I think I've got names this time to go with the 300+ pictures I took.  Thank god for digital cameras, lol.), I headed back to the barn.  I was a little bummed because it was Ginny's birthday and I was not going to be able to participate in the celebration that night, since I had to work Sunday morning.  But I made myself get on.  It was hot, people.  I'm talking, drenched with sweat hot.  Like 84 or something.  

Anyway, I took her out back behind the barn to see how she was.  Within 5 minutes, I was like, who is this pony and what have you done with the cheeky readhead.  She was with me, she had the floppy ear thing going, she didn't porpoise into canter, she leg yielded without throwing her head.

I worked on everything with her that we have been working on: leg-yields, counter-bend to the corner (even without a real one), bend around it, circles, sitting trot to canter, canter tear-drops to counter canter.  She was fantastic!  There really wasn't anyone there to see it, but I was grinning from beginning to end.  Then I figured, ok, let's get crazy and push our comfort zone.  I took her for a walk up around the vendor fair towards the temporary stalls.  Then we trotted a few circles around the jumper ring that was still competing, and she was just as good there.  I washed up and headed home, knowing that Violet is in the best place she can be.  She's happy, Marcy loves her and she continues to grow.  I know I waffle on whether or not she should be home with me, but every time I leave there, I know this is where she needs to be.

When she heard me call to her from the truck.

And I have to say thank you to Marcy.  That happy face (above) is a direct result of the work that she does with her. She has come so far from the "local 2-foot hunter" that I bought, and most of that is because of Marcy.  So, thank you for taking the time to give the little red-head a shot.  She's fantastic!