Long Silences

Never a good sign. I've been exhausted for a week by my own doing. Just wonderful.

Anyway. Nothing new here, really. The latest news from Breyer is that there will indeed be a Treasure Hunt this year. It's on a new mold from Brigitte Eberl and it's supposedly an Arabian mare. The mold is basically Mascha/the trotting Arab gelding or whichever with a redone mane and tail.

The theme this year is Weather Girl. So each horse is a weather pattern. The first is dark--black, I think--and is called "Thunderstorm." The second is a palomino called "Sunny." And the last is a gray pinto called "Partly Cloudy." The last horse is called "Rainbow" and is a mystery color. There's a bunch of speculation going on now over on Blab as to what it will look like. The first three will first be available in April. Several dealers are not ordering because they're afraid of having horses left over, but there are still plenty of internet dealers who will have them.

This Treasure Hunt does NOT fit into my plans for BreyerFest. My savings are still not as far along as they should be at all. I guess I'll have to take the leap and ask people at the barn if they need tack cleaned, but oh my, how embarrassing. It's such a small barn everyone knows everyone and it's not the kind of place people clean tack for money. Oh well...

The Early Bird ticket price is $70. In order to even go to BreyerFest, I have to write a six-chapter Bite, Snatch, and Grind story. For those of you not familiar with Bite, Snatch, and Grind, they are three trolls who star in stories that my dad tells while we hike. Most of the time these stories are totally random--well, actually, all the time. Characters appear as needed, and there's a lot of "meanwhile, back at the ranch." They're really only good if my dad tells them, but I have to write one before the month is over and probably sooner. What fun. I'll post updates as it progresses.

Peeta (and model horse coolers)

Who/what is Peeta, you ask? Well, he's a sparkly pink Beanie Baby named after a character in The Hunger Games. In one of the books he paints flowers on a cake--thus, my friends and I have decided that even though he married Katniss in the end he has a rather unconventional taste in clothing.

This is Peeta. He always (almost always) has his cape on.

Yesterday when Sara was over, we were playing around with him. This is what came of it:

Yeah. He's in the seductive pose. And that was with only one pin in his hand/head.
The only piece of clothing in Peeta's figurative closet was his cape, so after Sara left I made him a skirt. It compliments him... sorta. There's just no getting around the fact that he will never have a nice svelte waist. Ergo it's hard to make skirts looks entirely flattering. Oh well.

As you see, he also has a matching headband. Feel free to use these as your wallpaper--I know Peeta's beauty is just stunning you all. Just kidding. I'm feeling a little slappy after staying up too late last night and preparing for the lock-in tonight. Yikes.

When we were taking pictures of Peeta on various fabrics I had laying around for model horse blankets, I realized that I should probably use some of that fabric.
This was a one-size-fits-most blanket, but it's adjusted for GG Valentine. At first I wasn't sure I liked it on her but it's growing on me.

 I'm quite proud of the darts in the back, but it's not that exciting.

The last thing for tonight is that I finally finished and photographed the entire first-place raffle set. It's a halter and lead with show cooler, and I have to say I quite like it. Nothing LSQ, of course, but it's definitely a start. Please excuse the picture quality. Hope you like it, Mary!

The hook in the front and its closure are handmade. This also has darts in the back.

And before I take my leave... remember to put Peeta as your desktop background. Wink.

Groggy

I am. Groggy, that is. After a pathetic, weak attempt to return to school this morning (ended during third period), I came home and flopped. The only thing that was accomplished today was that I established that my equitation sucks. I've been reading too much George Morris... sigh. Mostly I've just beat up on myself lately and wondered what on earth I'm ever going to do--how does one unlearn all these terrible habits? Gack.

Basically, the lesson for tonight is: read George Morris from the beginning, try not to have a non-functioning equitation, and find a trainer who likes the classical riding style. From the start. Oh, and if you do feel like your eq is not up to par--do NOT watch Brianne Goutal. It just hurts one's feelings to watch such a good rider and be struggling against bad habits. It also lowers self-esteem--a lot.

And on that cheery note, good night.

Cough.

No, that's not just text. That's what I'm doing at this moment and what I've been doing all day. I'm still sick and I stayed home from school today because I had a slight fever. Tomorrow is doubtful, but we shall see.

And what came of this day of illness, you ask? The answer: absolutely nothing. Well, okay, I edited some pictures in Photoshop. But then I had to shut the computer down and since it was just fiddling with effects I deleted the changed. So yeah... nothing. Mostly I just read books and stalked Blab.

Tuesday (tomorrow) is when I'd normally ride. But my mom's not feeling very good either so we might not get out even if I make it to school tomorrow.

To make up for this disappointing post, a photo dump is in order!

Finished at last.

Somehow the halter I was working on took forever to do, as those who've read the last few posts know, and so this weekend I was especially pleased to finish it. And then after homework was done, I started another one. This only worked out because I hadn't brought any models but Lady Phase with me, and I got bored. Surprise, surprise. It's not finished yet, but so far the gluing has gone much more smoothly.
And without further rambling: the new halter.

 It's refreshing to have actual tack to post for a change. Anyway, now I'm starting work on the black cooler that will go with this and after that the other two raffle items are going to be finished. Hopefully those will go more quickly!

Not So Good.

I think I'm sick. My sister's had something, and I'm now showing the symptoms. It really started after riding, though, so luckily we still got to jump.

No pictures today. They're all so horrendous I want to cry every time I look at them. In fact I did cry when I first uploaded them and took a close look. I don't know whether that's because of my present lack of sleep, or illness, or just the horror of these photos... but they make me want to start bawling. Eek.

For some reason I'm having major issues with my leg. Can't keep the heels down or stirrups at the girth. If I could only fix those problems most of my other problems would be eliminated, too--I think. We'll see. For now I'll be stretching my heels down on the stairs and hoping for the best.

It's about time I mention tack making. The raffle halter is progressing slowly due to terribly irritating and uncooperative candles, but it's getting there. It should NOT take so long to do one halter, seriously.
EDIT: It's finished. Now on to the lead and cooler!

Fiftieth Post

Doing well so far!

Today, though it was pretty chilly, we made it to the barn. Jones was pretty good, albeit a bit lazy. Doesn't give much hope for tomorrow, but oh well.
The main issue with today's lesson was--me. My mom took some pictures toward the end and oh my. What am I doing?! It looks like I put too much weight in one stirrup and so was way off to the side. Yipes. My equitation is not usually this bad. For some reason it's gotten way worse lately.

Now, so we have some pictures, here they are. You may feel free to critique anything you see. I see lots...
All the major issues are circled in red. There's plenty (too much) of red.

Leg slipped back, too much of a breakdown, off center, not holding with legs

Too much breakdown, leaning WAY to the right

Leaning WAY to the right again, too much breakdown

Too much breakdown, leaning WAY to the right, heels not far enough down, legs slipped back and not holding, hands open

And I promise you, non-jumping people--I'm not being too hard on myself. There's probably a lot I'm not seeing.

The reason I posted this is because, as George Morris says, it's important to learn from photographs. You might not necessarily feel like something's wrong with your jumping or flat position, but there could be a lot of issues. If anyone who reads this would like to have their pictures posted for critique by me and other readers, just say something in the comments.

Show Season

It starts in about a month. There's actually a practice show at Rio Vista this month, but it's not rated so most of the people at my barn are opting not to spend the money for a non-rated show.

Last year, Jones and I mostly competed on the TSSA, or Schooling Show circuit. We were in one of the higher classes so there weren't very many competitors and we won the year-end championship in Open Hunter and the year-end placing of Fourth in Junior Equitation fairly easily. Even though we had some pretty craptastical rounds, the points worked out.

This year I'd prefer to do Centex. Centex is not schooling shows--many of the shows operated by Centex also have classes recognized by the Texas Hunter Jumper Association (THJA). There are many, many riders and more horses, and some of the shows are two days long as opposed to the traditional Saturday TSSA show. Competition is very fierce. People count up their points until the very last show, when they do the best they can and bite their fingernails until results are posted on the website.

And then there is the Summer Circuit. It's comprised of three shows in the middle of the summer, each one three days long. (The real kicker here is that one is scheduled for the exact same dates as BreyerFest--joy. And there's no rain date because it's at the Expo center, which has a covered arena.) They're extremely prestigious and if you can win at those, you're probably good on the A circuit, too.

Yes, it seems strange that I'd like to throw myself headlong into the huge competition of CTHJA, but the truth is that the other shows are enormously boring. TSSA offers little competition and I don't think either I or Jones could achieve our potential at such shows. Plus, this is the last year we have to show that I'll not be out of practice (my dad wants me to not ride at boarding school for at least the first two trimesters--if at all, because there won't be much time for me to get away anyway). It's the best chance we have to succeed, so I figure...

Does anyone else who reads this blog show hunters or jumpers? I'd love to have a chat if you do--or even if you don't.

G'night!

GG Valentine and Heartbreaker

They arrived today. The Giselle mold is even better in person and I love the set. And you'd not believe the hoops I had to jump through to get these pictures--indoor lighting is not my friend. Please excuse the terrible lighting...

Anyway. According to my mom, I've been laying on the "procrastination" thing too thickly on this blog. She's right, but just in case any admissions officer is skeptical, I didn't procrastinate tonight OR last night. Aren't you proud? No? You try it then... haha. No, but really--it's nice to not procrastinate. You won't hear about it much more from now on.

I think I need to put a little more content other than pictures up. Sadly, there's not too much to talk about. The  beginnings of a novel are floating around on my computer waiting for something to happen, but first I feel like I have to get halters out of the way. Which would entail actually working on them once in a while... haha. Stupid matches not working...

Oh yes! Duh! We went riding today! Jones was really good--he started a bit slow but decided to turn on the engine toward the end. It was so windy that I had trouble staying in a half-seat at the canter some directions. Jones didn't mind me holding his mane, though, so it was all right. We did a bounce today. Trot in, canter out, with three fences and on a diagonal. The one thing there was a problem with was drifting to the left. It was because I kept turning early, but we fixed it eventually. We also did the outside line, but it felt a little awkward because it was low, Jones got bored, and was just jumping flat. It's not like he needed to jump up much, either... Next time it should be better.

More pictures.

Get ready...

Get set..

Go!

All right, granted, it's not a horse picture. This is Lucie--our 16 year old cat from the shelter. She sleeps on my bed and though my sister will tell you that she's annoying she's actually really sweet.

Here are the barn pictures.

That's all for tonight... but there are more tomorrow!

And since we need a little text, some halter updates. I'm working on the blue and black first-place one, and there are three parts left to do. It wouldn't take so long if we had some matches in the house other than the cruddy cardboard ones that are so hard to light, but it should be done soon. I shouldn't take so long on little nylon halters... oh well. Homework procrastination issues are the first to be tackled, then on to procrastinating on other things.

Get yourselves ready.

I went out to ride on Saturday... and there are a LOT of pictures. As in, over 300 pictures. No fear--I won't post them all. Still, best to be prepared.

Before we get to that, the pictures from Friday. I don't have them. They're on my mom's card and I'm too lazy (and tired) to load them now. Tomorrow, perhaps. (Here I go again, procrastinating. Gah!)

Jones was very good on Saturday, though he got tired very quickly and wasn't really able to finish up the course we were working on. Hey, I can't get mad though--he's had a week without work and is out of shape anyway. He's had a lot of off time this winter.

 Is it pathetic that I always get practically the same shot of Jones? I say so...

 Bella, the neighbor's dog.

 Bradley, one of the handsome geldings at BBB. He has a lovely face.

 A chunk of ice dumped out of a water barrel.

 Tiger.

 Gaby.

 Bluejay (stinker pony).

 Tiger and his owner again.

 Hudson.

 Ochocinco (or Chad).

More pictures to come! And I'm not kidding!