lantairvlea | classes, horses, and such

Classes started today for college. Woot! I'm rather excited. Tonight was the Intro to Equine Science class. It was rather humerous because the class has about 25 people in it, yet, there's only two men who both appear to be 50-ish and have minimal horse experience where the rest of us are all female and have had a good chunk of our years around horses.

Tomorrow I have my Equine business and law class, then western horsemanship, and thursday I think is equine behavior. Very much jazzed about this semester and getting into the equine classes.

In other news, I'm trying to work on my seat this week. More in preparation for the horsemanship class than anything (this week is just the class intro, I think next week we actually start riding and everything) as, if I know Kash, he'll get himself rather excited and will probably prance around for the first ten minutes or so of the class (maybe longer) and vanity and pride want me to keep my butt in the saddle. So I'm challenging both myself and the horses I work with by using only the bareback pad and halter.

Kash acts about the same using just the halter, though at times he may be a little bull-headed compared to how he work with the bridle and bit. I love riding him bareback, though. He's so comfortable to ride it's like he was custom made. Just the right width, his shoulders are just right, his back's not bony, and he just has nice, floaty non-jarring gaits (you have to watch the turns, though, he likes taking them sharp).

Nikki did pretty well, though she did kick up a little in the canter. I'm not sure if it's because she's not quite sure what to make of the halter and pad or if it's more of that she hasn't been ridden in the roundpen for a while. I think it's more the latter as she's used to going around the pasture or in the arena. She's still super-responsive. I love that little mare. She's a 4 y/o Arab and is just amazing. I'm still wondering who trained her (I'm in partial denial, she's the first horse I broke-in). Her only problem is she can be quite a ninny at times (thus her title: Nikki the Ninny), it's like she sees something, things about it, and then CHOOSES to spook at it. There's this post in the pasture that she spooks at pretty much every time, but it's only from one direction. You can run her by the thing twenty times one day, have her fairly calm by the end of it, and the next it's pretty much the same thing all over again. I think that'll be worked out eventually with experience, though. Anyway! She did well today. I was immensely happy because she went into the canter with just the voice cue and a little seat cue. Amazing little horse. I'd wadger some trainers would kill to have such a young, responsive horse to refine.

Glori did okay. She attempted to buffalo me a couple times getting her into the canter, throwing her head up and attempting to spin around in and go the other way. This is her new favorite trick, she does it to some of the novices we've had on her and now she thinks she can roll me over, ha! Think again! Apart from her moments of mareish attitude she was pretty good. She went into the canter a few times with just the seat cue, though not as well as she did on Saturday. I think I'm mostly to blaim for that one, though, as I didn't feel quite as in rythm as I should have been. Towards the end of the work-out she gave me a bit more trouble and I'm trying to figure out which was the greater factor as I found two good sized rocks in one of her hoofs, the dogs were going nuts (Judy has six of 'em, the shepherds like to run along the fence/attempt to jump over it when the horses go by and bark their heads off, so annoying), and I wasn't sitting like I should have been. Hopefully I'll do better tomorrow and she'll respond accordingly.

Starlight's doing rather well, I worked her with the bridle unlike the other three as she hasn't had any bareback work at all (not that her daughters have had much more, but Nik and Glori are more sensitive when it comes to breaking and, though Star's not going to go anywhere fast, she sometimes breaks gait). Judy's breathing a sigh of releief now as the weather's starting to cool down. Star's had some real problems with laminitis the past two years and it looks like she's finally pulling out of it for good. She's, I believe 19 and was a broodmare for about 8 years having one right after the other and it did a real number on her legs. She's the best I've ever seen her and apparently the best Judy's seen her as well.

I'll end my rambling now, early in the morning. Have to get to work around 5.30 so I can work Kash before I actually work, work.

In other non-equine news:

I came home and, lo! There's cookies on my bed! Chris made me a plate of cookies, Lance attempted to steal them, I threatened him with maiming, and now they're stowed away in a cubbard (don't even think about it, Lance, you'll never find them, the cubbards are too many and the cookies too few!).

Recording more of the Olympics, got some of the individual dressage last night, watched a little bit of it today between work and school. I think we've got show jumping tonight or something like that. Might be the dressage freestyle, though, I don't recall. Arr, right, sleep, u-huh.

Note to self: Ask fellow students if any are willing to carpool. Heck, even if they're in Mesa or Gilbert I'd be more than thrilled, especially if I can get someone to carpool on Wednesday when I have my horsemanship class out at Westworld so I wouldn't have to use Judy's trailer all the time. Right, keep that in mind.

Deposite check tomorrow, write check out to Judy for Kash's board, get books for Intro. to Equine Science class.