Decision Time

August 15th had arrived. Actually, I had forgotten about this show until 2 or 3 days before it was scheduled! I missed the pre-registration deadline so I had to just show up a little early and register at the show. The show started at 7Am... they pushed the start time up because at their last show they had so many participants that it didn't end until 9PM!
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I actually almost decided not to go. The weather was suppose to be near 100* that day and the venue, Bridle Trails State Park, was located close to 2 hours north of us. This meant we needed to leave by 4:30AM at the latest to make it there in time to pre-register and have time for warm up. Plus, we had never been to this facility! We wanted extra time, just in case. I also hadn't practiced reining at all since our last reining show last May!!! Between work, injuries, truck issues, and the lack of a decent arena, we hadn't done much other than spins in the pasture.
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Anyway, I decided to go. This was the show that would decide if Mercy and I were going to continue reining. If she was absolutely not going to have any of it, and if it was no longer fun for me, then I would never ask her to do it again. I decided that this show was going to be the one to decided it all the day our vet came out and did the x-rays. Reining is hard on horses, both beautifully conformed and not, and if Mercy was ouchy or not having fun like I did, then I was not going to push it ever again. She could just trail ride.
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Luckily, Mercy loaded right up and we were on the road on time. We were worried about parking because it has always been said that that facility had little of it. In fact, the reining club had parking attendants there at 6AM to make sure every one's rig fit. We had no problem finding BT and there was plenty of parking, at least at that time in the morning.
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I jumped out and quickly unloaded Mercy while my mom headed over to the show office to turn in my papers and check. I didn't bathe Mercy the night before (again) because she sleeps in sawdust, which sticks to her no matter what. So why? I groomed her really good, tacked up, and headed over to the warm up pen to get a closer look at the grounds.
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After walking through the trail that leads from the parking area to the riding arenas, I saw that there were actually three arenas. There were two warm up arenas and the main arena. I climbed aboard Mercy and headed into the warm up arena attached to the main arena. I took my time asking her to bend and flex, maintaining a calm mind and attitude. After trotting a few circles of various sizes, I noticed that the main arena was open to the riders to warm up. Bonus!

We were able to carry that light feel into the arena even though giant umbrellas, banners, and announcers systems were all going up and causing lots of distraction. Mercy was easily able to pick up her leads and not once did she threaten to buck. That nice calm warm up really does prepare Mercy to lope off smooth and easy.

We loped to the left for a while and then switched to the right. We completed maybe 2 full circles and then all of a sudden there must have been 20+ riders in the arena! I am so glad to have a horses that can be loping circles in one direction and not even blink an eye when someone loping in the other direction basically rubs stirrups with us as we pass each other. We switched to the left one more time to check out our lead changes and then took a break in the center of that circle. I spun Mercy each way a few times once she aired up and then guided Mercy out of the arena. It was almost time to show and I need to change clothes still! Mercy was sporting her new red and tan zig-zag saddle pad:

They packed in the trailers like sardines, but no one had an issue with it. I just tied Mercy up to the end of the trailer so she had plenty of room to maneuver, if necessary.

The show started at 8AM sharp. And it was already almost 80*. We were draw 4 in our first class- Beginner A. I didn't practice much before the class. I wanted to take this class slow and just use it as a schooling class, taking it seriously but if she needed to spook at something or act up then it was fine to break pattern to fix it while it wasn't a real pattern. Here's how it the modified pattern went:

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Left spins : -1/2

Right spins: -1/2

Left circles: -1/2

Lead change: 0 and penalty: -1

Right circles: 0

Stop: -1/2

Back: -1/2

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Our score was a 67.5! She did great actually. We had no reason to break pattern so I made the effort to improve upon certain maneuvers throughout the run. I wanted to make our large, fast circles just that. Large and fast. Same with our small, slows. Mercy was actually pretty lazy and getting her to move out was a challenge. We got the penalty on the lead change because she didn't change. I had a hard time getting her to trot and try the lead again, so by the time we got the correct lead we were already almost all the way around the first circle...

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Anyway, we ended up tying for 3rd out of 7 exhibitors! What a great start! We headed back to the trailers to get some water and take a break. Our next class was more than an hour away. I tied Mercy up, gave her the last of her hay, and headed back to the arena to go watch the other exhibitors. On my way there I took some pictures of the grounds. Here's leaving the parking area to the arenas, the log you have to cross, and the trail:

Here's the first warm up arena looking out to the main arena, grand stand, and club house:

To the left is the other arena we used for warm up and some used for lunging:

Here's the seating area and club house:

After taking a few pictures of the other riders, I headed back to the trailer. The morning light was still low and glowing, so I snapped a pic or two of our saddle. It seems way to simple, but I love it:

Since our first class went to well, I made the mistake of not taking the time to warm Mercy up for our second class- Beginner B. I honestly thought we would just go into the arena and do our thing the best we could. Well, Mercy had other ideas. Those two or three lope laps around the warm up didn't do much for her. I will let our score speak for itself:
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Left spins: -1/2

Right spins: -1/2

Right circles: 0 and penalty: 2 1/2

Left circles: 0 and penalty: 4

Left rollback: -1

Right rollback: -1

Stop and back: -1

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With a total of 59.5. Ouch. I honestly don't know why I got so many penalty points on our circles, but we did. My mom recorded the whole run and I just don't know enough about the scoring to comment anymore on it. I do know what happened on our rollbacks though! Mercy forgot how to stop! LOL! It didn't help that we were pointed toward the arena gates when we needed to stop, but that's not a good enough excuse. Then, she refused to do a rollback. It was more of a walk in a large circle, then eventually trot into a trot. Argh! Mare! We ended up with 8th place out of 16, so we didn't come in dead last, but it sure felt like it.

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So, instead of going back to the trailer for another break, she got to work for her break. The warm up arena not attached to the main arena was empty so we headed over there and worked on our stops and rollbacks. First I just worked on getting her to stop without me having to rip her head off. once she could stop off my voice and seat pressure, we took a short rest in the arena. When I asked her once again to stop after our break, and she did, I added in the rollback. And guess what? She was right with me. We didn't have to work on that very long and she got the hint that we not here to goof around.

By the time we were done in the arena, it was almost time for us to go into our next class- Beg. horse/ Non-pro rider. We were draw 6 and had to quickly do a few practice spins because we were up next. Good thing I wasn't too worried about that maneuver. Here's how we did:

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Right spins: -1/2

Left spins: -1 and penalty: 1/2

Left circles: -1/2

Right circles: -1/2 and penalty -6

Right rollback: -1/2

Left rollback: -1/2

Stop and back: -1/2

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And another score of 59.5. I still don't know what happened on the right circles to rack up that many penalty points. Some day I will have to show the video to someone who understands this more than I do. Her stops and rollbacks felt amazing though! I was so pleased with her change! I even lost my hat during the run and she could have cared less. Thank goodness!

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After grabbing a hot dog for lunch, at 11 AM, we packed up and headed out. One hour south of BT it was over 95*! I am so glad I ride the morning classes! The rest of the riders and workers were real troopers!

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So, except for my first class, our scores were not very good compared to our May show. Well, at least there wasn't any improvement in our training. Oh well. I knew that already. Mercy never really acted out at the show, so unless I get absolutely zero riding time this winter and spring, I plan on reining in the future with Mercy. I will keep you updated on her injury progress and future fun!

Would I Ever Had Known?

Without those digital X-rays taken well over a month ago, I don't think I would have ever suspected that something was wrong with Mercy's joints. She had never taken a bad step, limped, or refused work. I most likely would have barrel raced and reined her until she broke for good, never realizing that something was wrong until it was too late. And at such a young age... But now I have a chance to keep her as healthy as possible, for as long as possible.

We took over 20 pictures of various angles of her hocks, knees, and front pasterns. Her knees are by far the worst of her joints. On the images below, you can see the sharp little points on the first articulating section of the joint.

You can also see how her knee joint does not "stack up" in a straight line. It deviates to one side or the other. This is what is most likely causing the strain on her legs, thus causing the bone spurs' growth.

In some of the other shots you can actually see some cartilage damage represented in lines and waves, where the image should be smooth. Unfortunately, those images don't show up without some digital editing, which I don't have right now.

Anyway, the game plan is to just assume she is an arthritic horse in order to prevent any further damage to her joints. The more quiet, low key rides we can go on, the more flexible she will stay and the stronger her hind end and back will get. Before and after any strenuous rides I am to bute her to prevent inflammation. It was also advised that I use liniments on her joints after longer rides to keep any swelling down and keep the joints flexible.

Also, after a lot of consideration, I decided to start Mercy on Adequan. It will help maintain the state of her joints as they are currently, as well as help them heal a little. We have had such great results with Star, who is also on it, so why not!? I did decide to try using it a different way thought. Instead of the usual 7 doses every 4 days, and then one injection every 30 days as a maintenance dose, I am going to do 2 loading doses a year; once in the fall and once in spring. This way, I can build her joints up before show season, and then I can help her repair any damage taken during the shows before heading into winter. Thank goodness she is so good with shots! It took me a while to get comfortable giving them, but now it's no biggie.

She still doesn't feel any different. As smooth as ever, really. I guess we will know if it's working if in a few years I get another set of X-rays for comparison, or if she happens to get a bone chip... :/ For now, I am doing what I can for now, short of not riding at all. Which we all know isn't going to happen, lol!

I did, however, get the approval of my vet to continue reining with Mercy. At low level shows, at least, where sliding stops and fast spins don't guarantee a win for anyone. Reining is a great sport to perfect cues and really build a partnership with your horse. So, as long as Mercy doesn't start resenting work or acting out in pain, we will continue to go to a show or two a year. In fact, we have another show tomorrow- the last reining show of the year for us, at least. It's going to be a hot one, but the show starts at 7AM, so it shouldn't be too bad by the time my classes are done. We'll see...

NWRA Arlington Reining Show (May 16, 2010)

It was way too early in the morning. So early that it wasn't even light out. The sun's light was not even peeking over the mountains to the east. Fun.
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I had never asked Mercy to load in the dark, so I really didn't know what to expect. On a normal day, she can be difficult to load when I haul her alone. It can be done easily, but sometimes she just has to make sure that's really what I want, lol! So, I woke up extra early so I could make sure we hit the road on time. It was 4:30AM. And guess what... she loaded right up. I don't know if she was just really in a good mood or just happy to eat some hay, but she loaded up with ease once we had the trailer and truck all packed.
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According to MapQuest, it was going to take us approximately 2 and a half hours to get there. Anyone who drives a horse trailer knows, however, that it takes longer when you're hauling live weight. I added another half hour to our drive time to give us plenty of driving time. The show started at 8AM and since this was our first show with this organization, I didn't know how smoothly it was run normally. I wanted to get there with plenty of time to warm up my sometimes crazy mare if need be!
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Well, let's put it this way, my mom, Mercy, and I arrived at the showgrounds before 6:30. We were the first people to arrive. Of course, I pull the truck and trailer into the wrong area and am finally able to wave down the resident farmhand for help. He shows me where I can park, which is out front or out back in the field. I chose the field. Big mistake. I take one step out into the tall grass after getting the rig arranged next to an over-nighter and my boot is instantly soaked with the morning dew. It is cold out and now my feet are wet. And it's only 6:30 in the morning...
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I grab what little warm clothes I brought and threw those on before going to unload Mercy. I hung up a hay bag for her and offered her some water. Once I knew she was well taken care of I waddled my way back to the barn to see if there was anyone around. The office wasn't open yet and there was no one to ask. No breakfast, no potty, no help. It was only 6:45...
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With no luck there, I headed back to the trailer. My socks are soggy already, so I don't walk as carefully through the tall grass. Mercy hears me coming and nickers softly as I approach. The warm up arena was perfectly groomed and waiting for us, so I saddled her up and walked her over to the show area. I tighten her cinch, climb aboard, and take a deep breath.

It was still very cool. The sun was still not up. Dang it. The horses boarded there weren't even fed. Think we got there earlier enough?! Lol! I still wasn't convinced that there was even going to be a show there that day. No one was around and it was 7AM! Since I had the arena to myself I let Mercy just cruise around on a loose rein for a while. She walked over to see the boarded horses and then tried to stop and nibble the grass on the side of the giant arena. Once I was convinced she was bored I asked her to get to work... any work... of any kind... but first at a trot.

We took a few laps around the arena in both directions. She was getting less and less interested with the other horses and grass and more focused on me. For this show, I had already decided that I wasn't going to ask her to 'frame up' at all. I just wanted to survive the show and have some fun. It will be a long time before we ever get serious about this sport or competing. If we could get through this show without getting a zero, I would be more than thrilled!

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I tried asking her to trot some really big circles, but she was getting confused and jazzed up, so I brought her back to the rail and continued loosening her up there. Once she was feeling more prepared, I just asked her to lope as we came off the rail and into a large circle. It felt great!

I tried really hard to just relax into the saddle and give her the reins. We were working on our circles, but she was allowed to stray a little as long as she would easily return. We worked to the left first, our easy way. I wanted to boost both of our confidences before plowing the other direction. As you can see, she is very relaxed and moving out well. She carries her head and neck higher than a pleasure horse (obviously) but it is still lower and comfortable. Also notice the wet jeans in most of these warm up photos... *rolls eyes and shakes head in disbelief* :/

She really surprised me when we switched to the right circles. She was easy to maneuver and she held a constant speed. There was no fighting between the two of us and there was no panic. It was just another enjoyable ride!

Eventually the office crew arrived and more trailers pulled in. I few other riders joined us in the arena so it was good practice sharing the space. Once we had our large circles going for us I practiced breaking her down into a smaller, slower circle. She has a long stride, so I discovered that I need to ask her to start slowing down way before we actually need to.

Our spins were still not quite all together yet, so I really didn't want to practice that and confuse her more right before her first show. I just had her pivot both ways 360* and stop. When that was solid I returned to the circles and practiced a few simple lead changes. We had been practicing these at a friend's place and were having great success, but that morning she really didn't want to change from a right to a left lead. I never did get it before calling it quits. I still needed to get ready and checked in!

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On our way back to the trailer I noticed there were other people riding in the indoor show arena. I thought we weren't allowed to go in there, but it was only 7:30, so in we went. I just wanted her to be able to look around and get her spooks out now. We were done working, it was time to cool off and relax. After walking the rail a few times each way we moved up into a trot and did a few circles amongst the other riders. Once we could complete a circle without freaking out at the judge's chair, or the blue mounting block in the corner of the arena, I dismounted and loosened Mercy's cinch. She did good.

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After dropping Mercy off at the trailer to water up and continue stuffing her face full of hay, I headed back to the arena to visit the office. Mercy received a permanent NWRA number and I was cleared to show. The gal informed me they were running a little behind (noooo, really!?!?) and that the warm up class only had a few participants, so be prepared for class #2.

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Back at the trailer I quickly re-tacked Mercy up, this time with her show pad, attached her number to the pad, and got myself together. I needed to change into my western show shirt and slick back my hair. Next, I hair sprayed my head and my hat heavily. It was NOT going to come off! After a few minutes it felt secure (and crunchy...) enough to get Mercy's bridle and head back to the warm up arena.

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Our first class was class #2- Beginner Horse and Rider A. This is a pattern that was modified from one of the original NRHA patterns to give Beginner horses and riders a chance to learn. Here was the pattern: Begin facing the judge in the center of the arena, one left spin, one right spin, two large then one small circle to the left, simple lead change, two large then one small circle to the right, stop at the center of the arena, and back 5 feet. No penalties were received for simple lead changes or a correct 'walk around' spin.

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When I figure out how to get video on here I will post it, but until then here are my scores:
Left spin-0

Right spin-0

Left circles: -1/2 and penalty: -1/2

Lead Change: -1/2

Right circles: -1

Stop: -1

Back:0

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For a total of 66 1/2 points out of 70!!! Neat! We didn't zero out or go off pattern! On our left circles, Mercy just wanted to bolt for the gate, so she would shoulder in and instead of a nice circle, we made a "D"... completely flat on one side and then she would find our path again, lol! The lead change penalty was understandable because she not only took forever to get loping, we also almost plowed the judge over because I couldn't get her to go to the right! That dang shoulder was leaning to the left! I finally puled her head over and she got it, but still! :/

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I don't really know what was wrong with the right circles, but oh well. Our stop was way to late and once again we were close to clobbering the judge. Thank goodness she backed right up. In the end, I earned a 2nd place ribbon out of 4 contestants. Fine with me! I was still in disbelief that we had actually competed in our first reining show class! :)

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Class #3 was Beginner Horse and Rider B, another modified pattern but this time it was a REAL NRHA pattern (#8). There was once again no penalties for simples or smooth "spins," and the only modification was that instead of 4 spins in each direction, you had to complete only 2.

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Here's how we scored:

Left spins: -1/2
Right spins: 0

Right circles: -1/2 and penalty: 2

Left circles: -1/2

Left roll back: -1 and penalty: 1/2

Right roll back: -1 1/2 and penalty : 1/2

Stop and Back: -1

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Our total: 62. Yup, things sure did get much more challenging! This is the class where certain 'behavioral patterns' started to appear. For example, Mercy decided that spinning to the left meant physically moving her whole body to the left... toward the gate. In those 2 spins, we had moved a good 10 feet to our left. And now we were nowhere near the center of the arena. Oh well. I spun Mercy to the right right where we were. This actually worked in our favor because then it gave us lots of room to pick up the right lead. Plus she was already thinking 'right!' Unfortunately, once we got into the circles she was once again trying to shove her shoulder around. That got us 2 penalty points! Boo!

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We don't slide yet, so our rollback scores were low. Not only that, but as I guided Mercy to the second and then the third stop, she got harder and harder to stop. She just wanted to keep loping around! And since we were just there for the experience, I grabbed hold of the reins and hauled back after giving her plenty of cues to slow down and stop. That got her attention! Just because we are showing doesn't mean I won't correct you when you take it too far Missy!!!!

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After laughing myself out the gate to the bit inspection area, my sister showed up with breakfast. I ate quickly, but there was really no rush. There were at least 10 riders in this class and each run takes about 4-5 minutes. So after walking around for a while I got back on and we headed back to the outdoor warm up arena. I have no doubt that if they held the show outside in the outdoor arena, we would have had fewer issues. She just doesn't like it in there as much. She tolerates it, but that's about it.

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I loped her around for quite a while to get her to respond better to my 'whoa' cues. I didn't want to tire her out, I just wanted her to want to find or hunt for the release, and ultimately the stop. It worked. We loped circles for some time before she was slowing down and trying to stop on her own. I asked her to keep going. Just a little longer. And then I asked her to stop with my weight in the saddle and a deep, long 'whoa.' She slammed on the brakes! No reins necessary. Perfect. A good long rest in the middle of the arena, a few 180* spins in both directions and we were done. I got off and walked over to see my draw for class #5- Beginner Horse/Non-Pro Rider. We were draw number 2 of 8.

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This ride felt a lot more solid than the second one. It was a pretty difficult pattern, especially since we had just recently figured out simple lead changes. NRHA pattern #5 involves what is basically a figure eight. This is because you stop in the center of the arena between circles, so it becomes necessary to add the figure eight to show lead changes. This class does have penalties for simples; one point each. Ouch! Here's how we did:

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Left circles: -1/2
Left spins: -0

Right circles: -1 and penalty: -2

Right spins: 0

Lead changes: -1/2 and penalty: -1, -1

Right Rollback: -1/2

Left Rollback: -1

Stop and back: -1

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Our final score for the day was 61 1/2! The 2 penalties for the lead changes were no big deal for us. I knew we would get them because we don't know how to do flys yet! I don't know what was up with the right circles, but I do know that we completed every lead change! They may have been late, early, or prolonged, but Mercy never missed a lead change. That was WAY more than I expected because remember way earlier in this post I was describing how I ended up having to quit working on those during our warm up? I never thought she would get them in the indoor arena. She does surprise me every time I ride her! We ended up with a 6th place in this class, but considering the high score was only 66 1/2, we weren't doing too bad. Also considering our last 'schooling show' score (and our first ever scored run) was a 55 1/2, I am very pleased. If we can just keep competing and gaining experience, I know we will be competitive some day. Whenever that may be.

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We were contemplating staying for the working halter class, but I was mentally done and ready to go home. I think it was only around 9 or 9:30AM. Three classes all in one morning is a lot to ask a young, inexperienced horse. She physically could have kept going, but that last run felt amazing and I was perfectly content on calling it a day. A successful day.

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We quickly loaded everything up, let Mercy have a good graze in the pasture parking area, picked up my 2nd place ribbon, and headed back on the road. It took longer to get home because of course in was the middle of the morning on a Sunday. There was an accident on the northbound lanes so the southbound lanes were moving pretty slow for a while. We pulled in around noon. Whoa, what a morning.

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That whole experience was about as perfect as it gets. We had no major issues in the warm up arena, no one got bucked off, Mercy seemed happy and content the whole day, we completed and scored in ALL of our classes , and got GREAT scores for our first show. Considering we both have no professional training and I am the one who has taught Mercy the specific reining maneuvers required, I think we held our own in the show ring. Can't wait for the next one!

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March Reining Show

At 8:30AM, my friend M pulled up to my house with his 4 horse gooseneck. I had all of my tack ready to load and just had to grab Mercy away from her breakfast. Star had been dosed with a little Quietex, so she wasn't as on edge as she usually is when I take 'her' horse away from her.

Mercy only took a minute or two to get loaded and we were on our way to the Tacoma Unit for a full day of reining! Last time we tried going to the reining show M and A got a late start and we didn't make it there early enough to give the horses enough warm up time. Not this time! We got there plenty early.

When we arrived we headed straight over to the show office to register for our classes. I wasn't sure I was even going to make it into the arena, so I only entered one class: green horse. Once saddled up, M headed into the indoor 'show' arena to warm up and I chose to ride Mercy in the covered warm up pen since that is where, during our last show, we didn't have such a good time.

What a surprise it was that Mercy behaved herself when we entered the ring. We were able to immediately lope both directions, weaving in and out of other horses, right away! No kicking, squealing, bolting, or bucking. We worked on speed control and eventually stopped in the middle of the circle to practice our spins. They weren't so great...

The show was about to start so they kicked people warming up in the indoor arena out, so M was able to join me and help us out with our spins. And right as the show was about to begin, the cattle truck pulled up... The truck, which usually is there and gone by the time the first truck and trailer show up in the morning, was running late and needed to unload before we could start. The next day was cutting and sorting, so the steers need off now. And of course they had to unload into the covered arena, where we were riding...

It would be a major understatement to say that Mercy doesn't like diesel trucks, of any kind. Semis, RVs, and even 1-ton pickups will make her freak out. Tractors don't, but who knows?! Anyway, everyone backed up along the rail and they trucker unloaded the cattle. Once Mercy figured out that the truck wasn't coming any closer she was able to relax a little and just stand there, watching as the cattle unloaded and wandered into their pens. *sigh*




One more freak out as the trailer left and then it was back to work. There must have been 50 riders in the first class, so it took hours until it was our turn. I took it easy with her, just loping every now and then and spinning when she looked asleep. We practiced some rollbacks one the warm up arena cleared out a little. It was close to 1PM by the time my class started.

They didn't have any draw sheets up, so I just had to listen for my name. And I wasn't hearing it. I was still just standing around on Mercy when I heard something: Haggie. That is how they were pronouncing my name... My name does have an 'a' and an 'i' in it, but that's it. It doesn't have a 'h,' 'e,' or 'g' and it certainly doesn't start with a 'h.' Apparently that is too hard to comprehend. I even wrote it out VERY clearly on the sign up sheets... How they got Haggie from MY name, I will never know.

Panic set in, but I tried to keep it down because now I only had about 3-5 minutes to warm up again. I was the next draw. Both M and I hadn't picked up on the announcer's mistake. Mercy wasn't fooled by my attempt to stay calm. When I asked her to just trot out and round up, she started to crow hop and in general be really bad. I couldn't stop her, back her, move her hind or front quarters at ALL, she was completely uncooperative. Oh shit.

Then I heard Haggie again. I was up and they were waiting for me. M was trying to help me get Mercy focused again and didn't understand why I was leaving already, lol! It was time to show!

The gate was open. I took a deep breath and (somehow) walked Mercy into the arena. Our pattern is AQHA Reining Pattern 6, a pattern where you start in the dead center of the arena. Usually competitors walk all the way around the outside of the first large, fast circle to make it to the middle. I wasn't their to waste any one's time, so I just walked straight to it from the gate.

The lady judge was sitting right in front of us in the arena, along the rail. I looked at her, took another deep breath, and cued Mercy to spin to the right.

What was I thinking...

We spun right... all the way to the left, toward the gate. After our four spins were complete we had moved to the left and had stopped in the middle of our soon to be large circle. :/

Ok, well that 's what it is. Now to spin to the left. I was going to attempt to spin her back toward the middle of the arena, even if it meant taking a penalty hit. She cannot decide where we go. It kinda worked. We didn't make it quite back to dead center, but it was not in the middle of our circle either. Since we had just been spinning left, thinking left, it was easy for Mercy to pick up her left lead as we took off on our large, fast circles.

As we made it around back toward the middle of the arena, Mercy suddenly noticed the dark lit bleachers and the people sitting there. Luckily she just looked and continued to lope. I actually had to push her to lope fast, and once we lapped another time coming down to a slow, small circle was easy.

In order to make a lead change in the middle of the arena, I asked Mercy to slow down to a trot 3/4 around the slow. small. She did break down and when I asked her for the right lead she basically said no. She pushed her shoulder to the left and at the last second, right before running over the judge, she corrected herself and took the right lead. We are nowhere near being ready to complete flying lead changes so simples are the best there are right now.

Once loping to the right, it took little time for her to notice the cook shack in the corner of the arena and panic slightly. Our right circles were just going to be smaller than our left ones were, and we were loping still so I didn't push that issue. Another large, fast and a small, slow and it was time to change leads again. This time she didn't get the left lead as we headed into the circle to the left for our rundown and "slide." I had to break her down to the trot once more. Luckily she picked up the lead easily once corrected and right on time! It was time to stop!

Normally, you ask the horse to speed up during the straight away and then ask for a sliding stop. For us, I was just going to be happy to stop. So I loped her down and simply asked her to stop. It was square and prompt. Perfect. We rolled back to the right and got the right lead. Around the end of the arena and back down the arena rail for our second stop. It wasn't as good as the first one, but it was as solid as I would expect at this time. She took a long time to get the left lead once we rolled back, so I knew we would get a hefty trot penalty. Oh well.

We rounded the corner for the last stop and made it count. Instead of rolling back this time we were to back up 5 feet. No problem for Mercy, she was all about the back up! I barely picked up the rein and she was flying backwards. And we were done!

Mercy could care less that the spectators were clapping, she wanted out of the arena. We walked out and met M at the warm up. He had watched my run, but needed to warm up too because he was up soon too. I jumped off, loosened Mercy's cinch and walked her around for a while. She wasn't breathing hard or sweaty, but I needed to get out of the saddle and think about our run.

Our run was everything I could ask for really. She went into the arena calm and collected after a horrible warm up. She loped and didn't buck. She didn't spook or bolt. We stopped and backed and completed the run. We didn't get a 0 for our first show!

I couldn't have been more thrilled with Mercy or our run. She isn't reining trained yet, and we managed to survive. Before heading home, M and I went to the show office to pay up. I checked the score sheet for my class and we scored a 55 1/2. That score is not great, in fact, it sucks. But it's a score and it's a place to start. I can now base my future shows of off a number. I now have a place to make goals for future shows.

I wish I had written down where I was marked for penalties, but we had to get going. M had to be home by 3PM and it was already 2PM. I know our spins were horrific, our circles weren't even in size, we trotted our transitions, and we had a wrong lead in there too. I guess it can only get better from there!

Farting is NOT Allowed! (Part 1: Our First Reining Show)

Last weekend Mercy and I were invited to the reining schooling show at the Tacoma Unit in Spanaway, WA by some close friends. Since I don't have a haul-worthy vehicle right now, they volunteered to pick us up so we could get a good ride in, and maybe enter a schooling class or two! Of course I said I would come! It was an awful rainy, windy day complete with thunder and lightening and I am glad for any chance to ride in a covered or indoor arena.

The only thing I was nervous about with this whole adventure was loading Mercy into their trailer. Their trailer is a massive 4horse with a monster sized tack room up front and a rear tack room in back gooseneck... with a ramp. That's the part I was nervous about. She loads in any trailer with other horses and hay, but I have never squeezed her into that narrow of an opening after climbing a ramp. Plus it had been months since I'd loaded her. Hmmm....

Well, my good friends got to my place around 12:30 and pulled up in front of my house. We loaded Mercy's tack up and then I went to grab Mercy. I quickly brushed her down while my mom grabbed her cooler (just in case) and we headed up to the house. Mercy took some very slow steps toward the trailer, but she never stopped moving forward. I lined her up with the ramp and trailer stall and walked in in front of her. She took one big step onto the ramp, paused, and then came forward easily . She wanted to smell the horse in the 3rd stall, but that's not allowed! No touching of the other horses! LOL! When I told her 'no' she backed out slowly, starting to get a little nervous. I asked her to come in again, which she did, and showed her the hay in the hay bag. Oh! She liked that. she reached forward and took a nibble, then backed out. One of my neighbors had been patiently waiting in their car to drive by so I took Mercy off the ramp and let him pass. After the very short break I tried driving Mercy into the trailer instead of leading her in. Voila! It worked! She climbed in and dove into the hay while I closed the butt bar and tied her in. We were off!

She hauled great and when we got to Spanaway she unloaded like a pro. I tied and tacked her up quickly. We were running late, the show had already begun! Not only that, but this was the largest showing of participants this show had ever had- a new record for them! This meant that I had no time to ride in the indoor arena and every rider was working or waiting in the smaller covered arena. No big deal right? Wrong.



That was a horrible shot. Her ears look as long as her head, Ugh. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to take many pics and most of them were in REALLY low light, so ya...

A little better, kinda. This time it's her suspicious/evil eye going on. I should have known this was to be a challenging day...

We walked over to the arena, where the steers used for sorting and cutting were mulling around in their pens, and mounted up. Mercy was very calm and taking everything in stride while I walked her around the other horses and equipment on that side of the arena. The other side of the arena was the 'active' side; riders were loping and jogging their horses in preparation for their runs. After I checked Mercy's 'whoa' and bending, I aimed her toward the rail to join the start our warm up.

Mercy basically bolted down the rail all the while trying to kick the horses working around us. I couldn't believe it. I had zero control of my horse. I was finally able to gather my reins, but Mercy was already way too flustered to calm her down quickly. We had bolted back to the 'calm' side, so I worked on bending her head around and getting her mind back with me. We progressed into walking and then trotting small circles around the other groups of horses that were 'resting.'

She had relaxed so much that I thought we would try going to the other side again. I asked her to walk a few steps at a time into the chaos, then stop and stand there. We almost got half way around the circle when it became too much and she bolted again. She would swing her butt out and back into other horses to kick them. Talk about some serious confidence issues...

We went back to the calm side and I worked her butt doing small circles and backing. Then I took a break for myself. I had no idea what to do. I wanted to be able to work on this issue, but it was also my number one priority to keep everyone else in the arena safe from my poorly acting mare. We worked on spins for a while and then I just parked her over by the cows. After about a half an hour, my friend came over and suggested I let Mercy walk with her horse into the active side, which was far less busy now that the show was almost halfway through. I took the rail and my friend and her gelding took the inside track. I just forced Mercy to stay by his side, no falling behind and no blowing ahead. When she was calm, she got a loose rein. When she got bothered I took ahold and corrected her, then released to see if she would stay with me. After maybe 3 times around the circle, we switched directions and we took the inside track. My friend suggested that I let her trot as long as she stayed in control, so I asked her forward and away we went.

She got a little bothered with the speed and tried taking off, throwing in a little buck and fart. My friend suggested I try getting her to relax her neck and poll by massaging her mouth with her bit- basically squeezing each rein alternating left then right and so on, but without steering her off the circle. It worked! Mercy finally relaxed into the bit and soon we were changing from a slow jog to an extended jog back to a walk, all without issues. And while other horses had joined the circle again. After another 45 minutes of this, changing directions, speeds, and gaits, we took a break in the middle of the circle. She had relaxed so much that she had come off the bit, lifted her back, and collected her whole body, so her break was well deserved. *sigh*

From that moment on I was able to ride anywhere in the arena and feel confident that she wouldn't bolt, buck, kick, and carry on in any way. I pretty much spent the next hour or so jogging circles and practicing our stops. We had made a major break through for the day, so I didn't want to push her anymore. While waiting for my friends' classes, I took her to the trailer and untacked her. She wasn't sweaty, but I threw her cooler on anyway since it was really cold, wet, and dark. I walked her back to the arena where the cows had just been fed. They were really hungry and in their frenzy to eat they had pushed most of the hay through the fence. Mercy really wanted the alfalfa, so I had to hand her off to my friend while I pushed the hay back in.

Mercy wasn't real happy about this so she had to stare down the cows after I took control of her again, tee hee!

We hung out until the show was over, at about 6:30, and walked into the indoor arena so she could look around. Maybe next time we will get there earlier so I can ride in a larger area. And maybe *gasp!* we could actually enter a schooling class! That was the goal for today before this whole Mercy-acting-like-a-stubborn-appy thing happened. Just one class, that's all I was looking for. Oh well.

She loaded like a pro heading home and boy was Star happy to see her. Mercy just wanted her hay, some water, and a good place to sleep. She make life way too difficult lol!

It Wasn't Reining After All...

On Saturday, one day before our reining debut, a certain vehicle came to a screeching (well, more like rumbling, clanking) halt. We were headed over to our friends' place to fit in one last practice. I had just pulled onto the highway and was asking our F150 to get up and go because traffic was horrid and there were already other cars behind me. We were almost to 50mph when all of a sudden the truck quit accelerating. Then, the most hideous sound and knocking racked the truck. I quickly put on my turn signal and guided the truck to the shoulder. Up ahead was a business with a decent sized parking lot, a perfect place to pull off the highway. I pressed the gas pedal and it gave me enough to get us there.

Once I got into the empty lot I called my dad. He raced over to inspect the damage. He quickly determined that the spark plugs had met their end. Great. Normally, this wouldn't have been that big of a deal. Yeah, they're expensive to replace, but it isn't major damage. But, for my family, we have already had the pleasure of experiencing the curse of the F150 at least 3 times, with my sister's Lariat. *sigh*

Luckily my sister was home, so I called her and asked her to bring her truck over. When she pulled in, she immediately asked me if the truck had "angry gremlins under the hood." Yup, that's exactly how I would describe it, lmao! After blocking the trailer tires and raising the hitch, we unhooked "Pepe" and backed "Big Red" up. Thank goodness I reloaded the hay bag for this trip. Mercy stood completely content eating her hay throughout the whole ordeal. I think she knew she wasn't going to be worked, lol! ;)

My sister drove my dad's truck, "Old Blue," an older Dodge Dakota, home while I drove "Big Red" and Mercy home. What a weird feeling driving a 'different' F150. "Pepe" is a crew cab and "Big Red" is a super cab and I could tell. We took it slow getting home to avoid breaking another vehicle, quickly unloaded Mercy, and unhooked the trailer. Kimberly headed back out to tow "Pepe" home... and, of course, to rescue my dad, lol!

So, in the driveway "Pepe" remains. Hmmm... Yup. I decided not to drive to the reining show the next day, even though I could have used Kim's truck. I just don't trust it as a hauling vehicle. Plus, the freeway up there was reduced from 4 lanes to 1, for a couple of miles. It wasn't worth it. I still have a chance to attend a reining show this year. It's a weekend show in Lynden, which is quite a bit further away, but I want to rein!!!!! We'll have to wait to see what happens. Until then, I have a performance show on Saturday. I'm really excited for this show; they added a few trail classes! Our specialty! And thank goodness for walk/jog classes. I'll make sure to get some pics and write up a good post once I recover. ;)