We started out great.....

We went to an open show today. There were only four people in the riding classes. There were a few more halter horses but not many. It was windy but otherwise a nice day. We entered a couple of halter classes as a requirement of high point. The day started out great. We got a first in Halter - color and Performance Halter out of four. We got first of four in showmanship too. The judge loved Bandit. Then we got ready for the western classes. The trainer warmed Bandit up and then I got on. He was loping really nice. He didn't give me a problem at all while we loped around the arena during the break. The classes were moving really fast since there were only two horses in the English. Trail was supposed to be the first class after English. I was the only one signed up for it so I agreed to cancel so they didn't have to set it all up. Then we had a western pleasure class. We were doing well until we messed up a lope transition. So we got second place out of 4. Then we had western equitation. We did some rail work, which was okay, and then the judge had us do a pattern. We have been practicing this at home and doing pretty good so I was happy to have a pattern to practice. I even went first. I trotted up to the first cone, started to lope a circle and Bandit just freaked out, tossed his head, bent to the inside and was really hard to control. I went back to where I started and tried again and got the same result. He wasn't going to cooperate so I quit the class. The next class was country pleasure. He still had an attitude; I had to two hand him and we got fourth again. We had one more chance to redeem ourselves with the Jack Benny class. We did okay but still got second of two. The judge told me later she was surprised to see him do that in horsemanship, that he looked so kind and calm. I said I was surprised too. But he's done this before; just not lately. It's hard to predict. My trainer rode him in the arena when we were all done. She schooled him in the area where he first acted up. He was being really bad for her too. She thinks the buzz coming from the speakers was causing Bandit to act up. Of course, no other horse had a problem with it. The good news is we still won the daily high point. I don't think any else signed up for it in the adult division. We are going to try another small show next Sunday. I hope it goes better. I'm starting to think it's not me, but Bandit who has a problem in the show pen. That would not be good because I can't really do anything if that's the case. Bummer....

Pinto Show - TMM

Too Much Mud. It's been beautiful and sunny all week. The only day rain was predicted was today. The last Pinto show of the year was today, rain or shine and it was not looking good. I drove the 40 minutes to the show, through clear skies, light sprinkles, and the closer I got to the show, more and more rain. All of us were hoping it would just be a light rain that we could wait out. But there we were, at 6:45 am, in the dark, with rain pouring down. The parking area is muddy, clay soil. We were afraid to get stuck in the mud so we moved the truck and trailer out. It was slippin and sliding but it got out okay. The grounds were a mess, except for the arenas. Bandit doesn't do well in muddy footing as I found out at the Apple Valley show two years ago. That's where he first went lame, after I showed him in an arena that had some really muddy sections. I didn't really want to stay and show, even though I thought we would do well (I usually think that until we actually show :). There were plenty of reasons not to stay:

1. It was too risky to Bandit, given our experience in Apple Valley
2. If we stayed and showed, the classes would probably be small and there wouldn't be very many Pinto or PAC points
3. We aren't in the running for any year end awards
4. We planned to go to a small, open show in two weeks

We decided to leave rather than wait it out. Of course the rain did clear up a couple of hours later, but that's okay. The grounds were so wet that we didn't think they would dry out soon enough to avoid a muddy mess.

Here are the muddy tracks the horse trailer left:


Bandit did really well in practice yesterday and last weekend. He's such a good boy!

Temecula Paint Show

This weeekend was the 2nd of two Paint shows each year in Temecula. It's the only big Paint show near me. I haven't shown there since June 09 when Bandit first got hurt. This weekend it was 95 degrees and super humid. We camped out in my trainer's trailer for the weekend. Our best showing was 4th place and we had some no calls. This show has alot of really experienced riders so I don't feel too bad. It's the first time we tried horsemanship at this show. Bandit was really good and loped off nice. They had a great trail pattern. It was roomy and flowed really well. Again Bandit loped off soft and nice. I misjudged the final lope over and Bandit was off stride but we did well up to that point. We've had so many problems with this in the past. It's amazing to have completed patterns without any major problems. It makes the show alot more fun. Here's how we did with two judges:

Showmanship Novice 5 and 6 of 9
Showmanship Amateur 6 of 7 of 9
Trail Novice 4 and 6 of 9
Trail Senior no call of 14
Western Pleasure Novice no call of 12
Western Pleasure Amateur 6 and 6 of 7
Western Horsemanship Novice 7 and 7 of 8

The next show is a Pinto show at the end of the month. I'm sure we'll do better at that one.

All Western Open Horse Show

After two weeks and several hundred dollars, Bandit looks like he never had a problem. He was sound and did well today. Here's how we did in our classes:

Showmanship Amateur 1 of 5 (PAC point, yay)
Showmanship Open 3 of 3
Advanced showmanship 3 of 3
Horsemanship Amateur no call of 8
Horsemanship Open 4 of 6
Trail Amateur no call of 7
Trail Open 3 of 6
Country pleasure no call of 22 (buckle class,only placed 1-5th instead of 7th, bummer)
Western pleasure amateur no call of 6
Western pleasure open 3 of 6

The judge gave me advice to use more implusion for the lope. He complimented our jog and downward transition, but didn't like our lope. Of course, my trainer has told me this from time to time, but I didn't realize it was such a problem. Even worse, I don't know how to fix it. I've been working on this for three years and can't do it properly. My friends and trainer tell us we did well, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like I'm trying to play basketball with people who are 6 feet tall but I'm only 4 feet tall. It just can't be done with what we have. I'm not sure why I can't be happy with just being able to show Bandit and get a very occasional first place, but I'm not. I think I'm the only one that gets one PAC point per show. Even a first timer got more points then me today. It's so depressing. I felt like crying more than once at the show today. That doesn't seem like fun to me. It's fun to practice on the weekends. But were not practicing correctly so it's not effective. I practice nearly every weekend, get grief from my husband for not being home, and still can't manage to do well. Is it really worth it? It doesn't seem like it but I have a hard time giving it up.

What happened Bandit??

All fixed up and ready to go home...



Bandit went to see the vet today. His was lame this last weekend, similar to the problem he had a year ago. At that time we tried several treatments and he seemed fine all year. But apparently it wasn't enough. So he's getting a different kind of injection this time.

Waiting for the vet to arrive...



First injection...




Second injection...



Now we wait and see how it works...

APHA Horse Show #2

Today was the second show in the paint horse series. We got our first APHA western pleasure point. Yay! It took 3 years. Waaay too long but yay anyway! Showmanship was our first class today. We got a 2nd and 4th out of four - same as last show. And I remembered the pattern this time. Western country pleasure - 5th and 6th out of 10. Bandit was really good in this class. I think only two horses loped, including us. Western pleasure open - 4th and 7th out of 8. Western pleasure APHA - 1st and 2nd of 3 (our point). Senior western pleasure - 4th and 5th of 5, several trainers in that one, I knew I entered just for practice. We did horsemanship and got 3rd and 4th of 4. The pattern was okay - walk halfway to cone, trot to cone, lope right lead in a circle back to cone, change leads at the cone and lope to judge, back up. Our transitions were not great, but we finished the pattern. A couple of years ago, we couldn't finish a pattern. Alot of the shows don't have patterns for horsemanship so we don't get alot of show practice. We didn't get to do a trail class. The pattern was hard but probably doable. I waited an hour to do the open trail class. Just before my turn, I saw that I memorized the wrong pattern. I had my reasons for doing so, but I was still wrong. So I scratched the class and once again left the show without doing a trail course - which is my favorite class. Bummer. But we still got our APHA point - our second ever. We got a trail point last year. It was good day overall and Bandit didn't challenge me much, like he does sometimes. It was hot, like 98 degrees all day. It was so nice to get home, see Ron and the puppies and jump in the pool.

APHA horse show

We went to a horse show last Saturday. I forgot to take pictures :( It was a combination APHA and open show. We did okay. No firsts; I think 3rd was our highest place. I wasn't able to track all of my placings so I'm waiting for a list to be sent to me. We got to the show 30 minutes before it started which was too late. My trainer planned to get there an hour earlier but stuff happens. So we had to get everything ready in a hurry. Showmanship was class #7. There were only 4 people in it. The pattern wasn't too hard. When I went to set Bandit up in front of the judge, I looked down and was amazed: Bandit was perfectly square, with no adjustment needed. He was perfect. We did everything great until I was supposed to turn and walk to the line up. I trotted two steps and remembered "WALK!", so I told Bandit to walk but it was too late. I bet we would have won the class if only I remembered to WALK. I ended up with a 2nd and 4th. It was only worth one PAC point so at least I didn't blow a large class. But it was the best Bandit has ever done in Showmanship, at least in my opinion. Then we had a pretty long break while English was going on. At the lunchbreak, I saddled Bandit and my trainer warmed him up, them I got on him. He was being pretty good. The trainer rode him in the first two classes to make sure he was listening. Then I took him in a few western pleasure APHA classes. They were all pretty small classes. After that we did the one horsemanship class. It was a simple pattern, but Bandit and I are not good at patterns and we've been practicing. We actually did pretty well. We finished third, ahead of two riders that went off pattern. Anytime we can complete the pattern with no major issues is good enough for me. So I was happy. The last classes of the day were trail. The trail pattern was really hard. There was one lope over series that was really tight and most of the horses had trouble with it. We had some practice time and that one obstacle was tough. The trainer rode Bandit in the open class to warm him up. By the time the APHA classes were up, I decided not to ride in them. There were only two of us, so we had no chance of getting a point. So I didn't do a trail class. Hopefully the second show in the series will be a little easier for trail. There were a couple of horses that did the pattern with no problems, but they were the exception. Overall, it was a good day. I'm looking forward to the second show next month.

Open show June 20, 2010

I took Bandit to a local open horse show today. We have shown here many times and it's usually pretty small. Today was no exception. We usually do well here, but today this was not in the cards. We started out well. Showmanship started around 10:30 am. We got first out of 5 and a first out of 7. Bandit did everything well so I was prepared to be happy with our classes even it we didn't get first place. But we did, so it was a great start to the day. Then we waited around for Western to start, which was around 1 pm. We did the trail class, got first, but we were the only one in the amateur class. We got third of three in the open trail. The sidepass was a zigzag and we didn't do so well on it in either class. Everything else seemed to be fine. Then it was time for equitation. We don't usually do well here so I don't expect too much. I concentrate on keeping my legs behind the cinch, shoulders back, leaning back, keeping my right leg from moving too much, etc. But I didn't do so well. I had a hard time steering Bandit where I wanted him to go. Then he decided to kick at my spur when I went to pick up the right lead for the lope. He did it after a few tries but it wasn't pretty. We placed 3 of 3 and 3 of 4. Then came Bandit's specialty, western pleasure. We did the county pleasure; the left lead was picture perfect. We had to have been in the lead for first. Then we reversed and had to pick up the right lead. Like the equitaton class, it wasn't good. He kicked and bucked a little and dropped his inside shoulder. I had to stop, grab both reins, back him up, and get him in trouble, which my trainer advised me to do. So that class was blown. I was disqualified. We still had amateur western pleasure to do. It went very similar to country pleasure. Left lead was beautiful. We reversed and tried the right lead. He kicked at my spur, and was not listening to me. My trainer was nearby and I got confused on whether I was supposed to stop and back him up or keep going, so I kind of stopped him, and tried to pick up the right lead again, but then we were told to walk. So I blew this class too. I was placed fourth out of four. :( Since I couldn't get Bandit to pick up his shoulder and lope of the right lead, my trainer rode him in the last pleasure class. She snuck in a minute to school him before the class. He was good in the class and was placed first. So that was our day: from first to worst. We are going to work on keeping him from dropping his shoulder with some counter cantering. This has been helpful before. Bandit is a really good horse. He just has a rider that has no idea how to ride, even after three years of riding him. I can't tell when he's doing things incorrectly, and even worse, I 'm not very good at fixing them. Sometimes I can, but it's inconsistent at best. So, we have some work to do at home. We don't have another show for a month. That one is the same as today, the last in the series for the year. We'll be practicing each weekend between now and then. But our practices usually go well, so I'm not sure that helps that much. We may have a practice at the equestrian center where to the show is to make Bandit thinks it's a show.

Open horse show

Well, I spent all day at the horse show. This post is likely going to sound negative, so I'll start with the good news. I got a first out of six in Western Pleasure and five out of fifteen in Western Country Pleasure. We started the day with Showmanship. I got 4 out of 5. I'm not sure why we didn't do better. The pattern was very simple, no pivots or backing. The one thing I forgot in my list of typical mistakes is not lining up straight for the judge. We had to walk from cone A to cone B, trot a circle around B, on to c, and set up for the judge. Then walk off. When I came out of the circle and headed for the judge, I had to straighten out a bit. So we lined up but not automatically. Maybe that was enough. I wish I had done better, but I thought Bandit did well, so it was okay. Then we practiced for trail. We practiced the tight turns and the lope off. He was really, really good. We practiced some western pleasure and he was fine. We took a break and stood in the shade while we waited for trail class to start. We were the second to go. We trotted a serpentine, trotted over some poles, into a box, did a 180 turn, trotted out of the box, over some poles, broke to a walk, over a pole and into a chute, backed in the chute. Everything was great at this point. Then we were supposed to lope out of the chute and around to a pole to side pass. Right after I loped off, Bandit raised his head, dropped his shoulder and kicked my spur. Basically he wouldn't lope properly for me. I had no control of him. I grabbed the saddle horn, stopped him, and tried again. He loped a few steps, still totally out of control, and then we did our side pass to finish. Trail is our best class and we've won a lot of firsts. But today, he didn't want to lope for me. This is not a new problem, but he hasn't done it in awhile. It's like he has to test me once in awhile and I always fail the test. We got fourth out of four. At this point, the day was not going well. But I figured, we still had three classes where we might do well. First, there was a western pleasure warm up class. This was not judged and my trainer had me ride him two handed to try to get him right, since we had the trail problem. It was okay until we had to lope the right lead. I asked him to lope, he raised his head and kicked my spur. Then I tried it again and got the same result. This happened about 10 times. He never did lope for me in that class. When the class was done, I went to the warm up area and tried a couple more times; same result. By this time, my trainer came over to ride him, and I was tears. She rode him and made him behave, then she rode him in the next class, western eq. to school him. He was doing better and the next class was western pleasure. It wasn't perfect, but we did well enough to win out of six. In country pleasure, we just trotted, since the lope was not working so well. Bandit was pretty good and we got 5 of 15. So by the end of the day, things got better. But the morning, and afternoon were no fun at all, due to the heat, and me not being able to make Bandit behave. The show was smaller than usual, but country pleasure was a nice sized class. I managed to get 3 PAC points, so that's good. I had fun with the group and my trainer helped me alot, but I get so disappointed with myself. After three years, we are still so inconsistent. Our next show is a small one in two weeks. We have done well there in the past. Each class has an amateur and an open class so we always get a second try. This will be good practice for us.

Ready for the show

Went to the barn and rode Bandit today, bathed and banded him and he's all ready to go. Now we just have to be ready for the 95 degree heat. He was good today. We practiced western pleasure and trail, both of which he did very well. He also did well at showmanship; his turns were really good. When we don't do well in this, it's usually something I did, like forget the pattern, hold the lead too high, too low, too tight or too loose, do my quarters too early or too late, too fast or too slow; well, you get the idea. It's my least favorite class. We practiced a pattern for horsemanship, Bandit's least favorite class. By the third attempt with two hands, he was ready to go one handed. He did okay. We find that he does a lot better when he knows what the pattern is ahead of time and practices it. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Nellie says hi

Nellie saying Hi. Isn't she cute?? This is our only donkey now. She was born at the house. We adopted her mom from the BLM without knowing she was pregnant. It was a great surprise. She has chronic problems with founder and doesn't get around very well. The vet doesn't have a good answer, other than bute. She is a sweet girl. I love donkeys. We have wild donkeys that live in our canyon. They are so cool.

My first post!

Bandit is a 2002 APHA Gelding. He's very calm and sweet. I couldn't believe how nice he was when I rode him for the first time. I've had him since Oct. 2006. We've been showing at APHA and open shows. We've had ups and downs especially when he was hurt last year and we lost about six months of training and seemed to backslide another six months. We are going to an open show next Sunday. I hope it's fun and that I don't get too frustrated, as I am prone to do.