Tomorrow, Sat 9/22, SMC is attending a Central Mass Horse Show Series show in Spencer, MA. I haven't been to this facility before but I've heard that it's a great schooling school and a lot of SMC's younger students will be going. I'll be schooling two horses, Lindy and Tara. In my previous post, I ran out of time before I was able to brief you on these two. So...
Tara: She came in with the other sale horses (Zee, Zipi, Fitz & Lindy) but the head trainer/owner of SMC Stables quickly bought her as a re-sale project. She is the most trained of all the horses and has competed at HITS Ocala and other top-rated horse shows. She is very classy (beautiful chestnut) and would make an extremely fancy Children's Hunter or Junior Hunter. I'll be showing her tomorrow in the adult hunter and schooling hunter divisions.
Lindy: She is 4 years old and has already been sold to a SMC customer. She is very mature for her age and walks, trots, canters and has just begun jumping crossrails. Tomorrow will be her second show and I plan on just riding her around the facility (getting her used to the atmosphere) and, if she feels up to it, taking her in one or two flat classes. After the show, the plan is for me to stop working her and for her new mom to take over.
On Sunday, my mom is meeting me at the barn to video Tara and Zee for potential sales. My mom and I have people in mind (back home in NJ) that might be interested in them. We also plan to free-jump Zee for the first time (keep your fingers crossed).
This afternoon, I'm heading out to the barn to ride all five horses and clean up Tara and Lindy for the show. If I have time, I'll give Zee a bath so she looks extra special for my Mom (yup... trying my hardest to have my mom fall in love with her).
I'll try to post on Sunday and let you know how the show went. Also, I'm going to try to add photos.
Talk to you soon,
EDV
Friday, September 21, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
The Projects
I think it is important for you to get to know the horses I'll be working with over the next few months (or at least until they get sold) so this blog entry will focus on each horse individually. Over the next couple weeks I hope to add pictures so that you can put a face to the name.
Zee - She's my favorite. She is very mature for only being 3 years old and is a very quick learner - she's less than 90 days under tack and already walks and trots outside of the round-pen and steers like a pro. I think I said this is my first blog entry, but she reminds me SO much of a grand prix horse I know. I think that, in the right hands, she could easily be a top-level jumper. My mom is coming up this weekend (Sept. 22-23) to watch her go (I'm not-so-secretly hoping that my mom falls in love with her and buys her, but that's a long-shot). Hopefully, we will free-jump her this weekend so I can get a better feel for her raw talent.
Zipi - Also, 3 years old. He has a very sweet demeanor but is more immature than Zee. A typical gelding, he tries to do what is asked of him but is not as quick to learn as Zee. He doesn't steer so well so usually I ride him in the round-pen or on a lunge line. I've ridden him free in the indoor ring but it's not so productive (it's kind of like a free horse because he doesn't always listen to me). There is one "issue" with him but I think it's only temporary. Last week, I attempted to work with him while other horses were being ridden and he had a mini-meltdown. He seemed confused by the whole scene. I just walked him around (on the ground) while the others rode around him in an attempt to get him used to the idea - I didn't get too far. But, the next time I rode him it didn't seem to have "fried" his brain or anything because he was calm and relaxed as usual (although, there was no one else in the ring). Besides that one issue he is a very sweet horse and I think has a good amount of potential. He just needs to grow up a bit.
Fitz: He is a 5-year-old Oldenburg. He has a very calm demeanor but, unfortunately, he wasn't broke until the same time as the 3-year-olds (90 days ago). Usually, the longer you wait to break a horse the more problems come along with it. Luckily, Fitz seems to be coming along fine. He had a bit of a setback with cantering but seems to have gotten past that. I ride him inside and out & walk, trot and canter. He is one of the sale horses that I will be working with exclusively.
I'm out of time for today, more homework to do for other classes, but I will tell you about Tara in my next blog entry. I've also been working with Lindy, a 4-year-old, but she is not for sale.
Thanks,
EDV
Zee - She's my favorite. She is very mature for only being 3 years old and is a very quick learner - she's less than 90 days under tack and already walks and trots outside of the round-pen and steers like a pro. I think I said this is my first blog entry, but she reminds me SO much of a grand prix horse I know. I think that, in the right hands, she could easily be a top-level jumper. My mom is coming up this weekend (Sept. 22-23) to watch her go (I'm not-so-secretly hoping that my mom falls in love with her and buys her, but that's a long-shot). Hopefully, we will free-jump her this weekend so I can get a better feel for her raw talent.
Zipi - Also, 3 years old. He has a very sweet demeanor but is more immature than Zee. A typical gelding, he tries to do what is asked of him but is not as quick to learn as Zee. He doesn't steer so well so usually I ride him in the round-pen or on a lunge line. I've ridden him free in the indoor ring but it's not so productive (it's kind of like a free horse because he doesn't always listen to me). There is one "issue" with him but I think it's only temporary. Last week, I attempted to work with him while other horses were being ridden and he had a mini-meltdown. He seemed confused by the whole scene. I just walked him around (on the ground) while the others rode around him in an attempt to get him used to the idea - I didn't get too far. But, the next time I rode him it didn't seem to have "fried" his brain or anything because he was calm and relaxed as usual (although, there was no one else in the ring). Besides that one issue he is a very sweet horse and I think has a good amount of potential. He just needs to grow up a bit.
Fitz: He is a 5-year-old Oldenburg. He has a very calm demeanor but, unfortunately, he wasn't broke until the same time as the 3-year-olds (90 days ago). Usually, the longer you wait to break a horse the more problems come along with it. Luckily, Fitz seems to be coming along fine. He had a bit of a setback with cantering but seems to have gotten past that. I ride him inside and out & walk, trot and canter. He is one of the sale horses that I will be working with exclusively.
I'm out of time for today, more homework to do for other classes, but I will tell you about Tara in my next blog entry. I've also been working with Lindy, a 4-year-old, but she is not for sale.
Thanks,
EDV
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