Babies (& Mamas!) First Gymkhana

"Mahm, I really think you have me confused with some other horses that wants to do stuff like this..."

On Sunday Jingle and I went to our very first gymkhana ever. There's a fun (affectionately referred to as "Beer League") by some Gymkhana series close to our barn, and during winter/spring I had it in my head that we'd work toward that and by the time they started Jingle would be loping all the patterns like a bo$$. Well... my season turned into a bit of a season of Jingle being lame, sore, pulling shoes etc. etc... so by the time the August Gymkhana hit I think i'd only been "riding" him for two weeks and that was light, light riding. Realistically by the time this one came around I hadn't been riding much either, but we had gotten back to loping, he was listening to me as good as he generally does and most importantly, he was feeling strong again. So, I thought, heck - let's do it, who cares if we only trot the patterns!

There was a photographer who was there, and luckily for me there's photos from both times I did barrels.

Barrels:

I was weirdly nervous but Jingle entered the arena just fine and trotted happily through the pattern, we just recently started "going left" to our third, and I really need to keep my leg on him through the second barrel... so I think that's what this face is all about haha.

This is Jingle, just looking like a serious boss.

These photos crack me up for various reasons...

Barrel 1, First Run:

 Barrel 1, Second Run:

.. Oh, you know, just casually doing the exact same thing with the same dead-angry look on my face. Realistically though I had my reins much too loose for both my runs and wasn't focused enough to crawl my reins. I learned my lesson, and Jingle definitely took advantage of my extra-long reins.

On our second run, Jingle blew out on me past second and picked up a bit of a frazzled lope, causing his rider to get even more frazzled. I could hear "WRONG SIDE" and I thought, what? & then, I realized - doh - I was coming at the barrel from the wrong side. Due to the fact I've just started "going left" with him, I completely forgot the pattern - rookie move. haha I just laughed it off, finished it off and loped home. What more could I do?

I love this photo... I love my horse.

Poles:

Unfortunately there is no photo or video documentation of poles. Jingle was really good, I had visions of knocking every single pole home, but thankfully he weaved just the right amount and not a single pole was knocked. My only issue during poles was that I was letting him lope home and his stop was ... not quite there... I honestly think I should have just been sitting down and shutting him down sooner, but my friend Caron and her horse Quiz did have us hurtling into her area once she was done her run. Woopsies. The guy at the gate gave me a stern look and a "turn the other way next time", sure sir, I promise I wont "plan" to run into my friend again. haha Sigh.. the amount of times Jingle has run me into inappropriate things in my life.. I tell ya.

It was wonderful timing that my friend Sarah and her son, Ben, arrived to watch the last two events we participated in, so we have video AND photos of those. Also, my friend's mom was there, and she also rides with us, between Poles and the next event, Stakes, she basically told me to buck up and start loping. 

The conversation kind of went like this...

Her: "Louisa, you have a good seat, it's time to pick up the speed, what's the worst that could happen?"

Me: "Uhm Jingle could run into the other person, and then hop the fence and maul a child..."

Her: "Lope."

Me: "Ok. I will."

So she is the voice you hear on the videos saying "LOUISA! COME ON!" haha.

Photo Ops are always welcome because my horse is the most gorgeous boy in the whole world...

Seriously, some random lady told me that, no joke.

She said she "loved him and thought he was exceptionally beautiful"

Jingle says, "datz right, I am zeeeeeeee prettiest of all zeeee paints in da world"

The venue isn't so bad either... a beautiful day with hay bales and the rocky mountains in the distance..

Stakes:

K, I'll shut up now, video time:

Stakes Race, Run 1

Stakes Race, Run 2

Jingle and I clearly need to work on our speed-turns, we were kind of taking them like a giant wrecking ball, hence the announcer telling me to stay on my side in that last video. I think they feared we were going to wrecking ball straight into their eye-cameras.

Thread the Needle:

Team Pow-Wow

Thread the Needle is kind of nerve-wracking, you have to run into an "enclosed space" turn quick and then book it right out... I had visions of just mutilating ALL THE POLES.

Thread the Needle, Run 1

Thread the Needle, Run 2

I thought our Thread the Needle went really well, especially our first run - homeboy pivoted like a goddamn champ. Anyways, as you guys can probably tell - I am on cloud 9 about how wonderful my boy did at the gymkhana. We had some hiccups about getting on - apparently Jingle thought not allowing me to get on would be a fun game, and I always forget he HATES arena dirt in back SMB's, so he stomps around like a whiney baby until I can take his "dirty socks" off. 

Please critique and give me advice as you see fit, but much like my friends 12 year old cousin being told she needs to shorten her reins in her patterns, I'll probably just give you the same "lalalalalalalaa i love my horse" big-ass smile, and not listen to a word you have to say. WEEEEEE, Jingle is da best.

Trying New Things: Sorting

So, to top off the most-horsie-longest-craziest weekend of life, on Sunday, Jingle and I (and Quiz and Caron) went sorting! Laura and Sarah came along, and Sarah took all these wonderful photos!

Jingle was an absolute.total.brat when I showed up at our barn to groom him, and it sent me into one of those "oh fuck, my horse is going to kill me today" moods.

Quiz is Jingle's for-real, bestfriend-girlfriend, so it's a big bonus that they know and like eachother.

Caron isn't so bad either! ;) This was the teammmmm on our first sorting adventure!

Sarah took lots of wonderful photos, including this one I love of my saddle.

The competition.

Warming up, Jingle was a dream. The nice deep cow-work ground is new to him, and he felt so nice floating through it. My horse was listening to me, and I was pleased.

Caron and I have never been sorting, and so we went out thinking that we were given our first cows number, and then called whichever one's we wanted. So, she grabbed our first, 6, and I called 9, the lady told us it was consecutive, so I switched and got 7, however, because I had gone after the wrong cow, we were stopped. So we were dq'd our first time.. even though they knew we'd never sorted before and said they'd help us with the rules.

Turns out that you are given your first cow and then it has to be consecutive. So, if I draw 8, then caron get's 9, I get 0, she get's 1 and so on and so forth... also, you are only given a minute. A minute can feel like a lifetime, but also a blink, all at once, when your sorting.

Jingle was honestly fricken wonderful. He's not very cowy, and I think was generally confused as to what we were doing, but he was listening to me. I asked him to turn, he turned, after our second round, we ramped it up and trotted and even loped a bit, and Jingle just followed along with me. Happiness.

Chasing a cow!

Caron pushing a cow out!

By our second time, we had "made" a friend, R, a higher level penner, who helped us out and coached us from the sidelines, and at one point helped us man the centre so that we could both go out and sort more. It was really nice, and awesome. Our second time we were also given a "mulligan", so after the 1 minute time was up, they allowed us to keep sorting until we had sorted the entire group of cows.

Love this photo. My horse is a superstar.

By our third time, with R's guidance, Caron and I were figuring it out. We only got DQ'd the first time, by the second and third we were getting points and pushing cows through! However, both of us kept in mind that we needed to be slow, steady and consistent with our newbie cow horses. There was a lot of reassuring our ponies, petting, keeping it slow... both of them did stellar.

Then we had our "jackpot" round, where your paired with someone else to ride with. Generally, if you are a newer rider, you are paired with someone with more experience. Here "R" and I are, discussing our plan of attack - okay, yep, I will listen to everything you say to me. Is what I'm saying at this point. haha

I like this shot - Jingle is figuring out some cow-sense, he's actually locked onto the cow here.

Shot of my favourite boot & spur strap combo.

I even let Jingle lope a little bit and he didn't lose his mind - success!

R and I got two cows through, and for a LONG time we were first in the jackpot since a lot of the other teams had DQ'd for some reason or another, we ended up coming in third - one spot out of the money! Not too shabby! haha

Here is Laura, aka "Team Bitch" staying with the horses and keeping them calm - love her!

Afterwards Sarah took some regal photos of my king ponyboy with the bluest of blue skies. Look how handsome he is!

I was SO. SO. SO pleased with Jingle during sorting. I am so impressed with how he well he can listen to me (when he wants) and simply trust me in unsure situations. I cannot wait to sort more, I think it's just going to be absolutely wonderful for the both of us!

Overall, It was a totally wonderful experience, we'll for sure be doing it again.

Going for most improved!

Trying New Things: English Pony!

Cutie pie honey bunch!

Tuesday, Jingle and I, (and Mac and Brigitte!), tried something new - English!

I've ridden "English" before, a horse I used to ride - Harry, was ridden English, but that was a long time ago, and I think I was generally riding Western in an English saddle more than anything. A couple girls at the barn said they'd lend us their tack and give us a jumping lesson, so we went for it!

The Coaches!

It was actually super fun - as you guys know, i've been taking it pretty slow with 'ol Jingle Jangle. He was feeling pretty fresh, giving it his all at the extended trot, at one point one of my "coaches" said "Well.. Jingle doesn't really need to be pushed up anymore than he is", haha, nope.. he never does.

After our warmup they asked us to canter-up... on our right lead... my stomach twisted a bit. Here I was, in this teeny tiny saddle, and I haven't really cantered my horse in three weeks and our right lead is not our best... ugh. But, hey!, this is for fun - what could happen, I had my helmet on. Low and behold - my horse surprised me, sure it wasn't the nicest, softest, slowest canter but he also wasn't galloping like a mad man around the arena AND he consistently picked up his lead - even when he dropped into a trot. Proud of my crazy horse.

They had set up some ground-poles to help us with our "stride", over one ground poles, one stride, over the next. They said that Jingle was doing really well, awesome.. because I was pretty much along for the ride just trying to figure out my position and what not. I worked on holding him steady, and he seemed to figure it out.

Then after some of that, we jumped a little line at the trot! It was just one little cross rail, two ground poles, and a second cross rail. The first time Jingle completely balked, which really surprised me, generally he pops over every little thing I point him towards, but the girls mentioned that the standards and the complete set up is a whole lot different than a log on a trail, or a cavaletti on the rail. I let him go around and they told me that they'd rather me walk calmly and centered over everything then let him deek out, because if I let him do that, he might one day do that on a course at the canter.. and nobody wants that.

Sitting a little western in this one... haha.

So, round two, calm and centered I worked on getting him straight and nicely through the line... the first crossrail he over-jumped and I was pleased that I actually stayed in my itty bitty english saddle. From then on in, he went over the jumps and I just had to work on keeping my legs on him, and getting him straight. Also, I was being reminded to keep my reins short... I kept thinking, "this short?! really?! no, this is SO short?!" Alright Louisa, welcome to English. So I worked on shortening my reins but also staying off his face. He pretty regularly knocked down the last crossrail, but he's figuring this out and so was I - we were having fun, that's all that matters!

We had a lot of fun, and I was pretty proud of him. He looks pretty cute in English tack if I do say so myself! I woke up this morning with little bruises on my shins where my cowboy boots have dug in - huh - would ya look at that. Anyways, it was an awesome night, everyone was just having fun and being positive, and Jingle was really listening to me. We had a couple teeny tiny pissy hiccups along the way, but we got through them all pretty pleasantly. Good Boy!

Afterwards Brigitte and I were feeling a little hungry... so we headed to our favourite late-night Denny's and consumed, respectively, a grand slam (bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, 4 pancakes), eggs benny and then shared onion rings, fries and mozza sticks, 4 different types of dips and then each had a drink and a milkshake... felt a bit sick afterwards, I will admit.