Today is Winter Tournament #3. Watch for tweets.
Explanation of my intended classes from show #1, Back.
Explanation of where I need to improve from show #2, Report.
As with the previous show, I’ve been on a horse once this month. Last time it was the week before. This time, it was three weeks ago. I’m not overly concerned with forgetting how to ride. I am concerned with forgetting how to ride saddleseat. Eighteen months with American Saddlebreds will evaporate and 30+ years with American Thoroughbreds will take over.
Not sure who I will be riding for Academy Showmanship, but Sam usually gets the pattern class rides. Some horses, such as Trump, will let me slip in a few hunt seat moves. Not Sam. If I sit in the center of the saddle and thump him with my heels, he turns into an up-down lesson pony until I scoot back, lift my hands, and ride him properly. He knows. He just refuses.
My instructor says that I am still allowed to show but I’m not allowed to bitch about my ribbons.
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Gratuitous Cat Pic
King of the Laundry
Virtual Brush Box 
Ride ’em Cowcat!!!
From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.
Well done! Not about where you placed, but about executing sections. It’s good that you were able to remember it all.
Hi There,
I just wanted to drop you a note and let you know how much I enjoy reading your blog. I’ve been riding saddle seat since I was very young, but started out riding jumpers and still sometimes miss that, in fact I have one of those Saddlebred Hunters you sometimes write about! Anyway please continue, I love hearing your observations about differences! My area is under a little over a foot of snow right now, and had another 4 inches this morning, so I just shared a link to your saddleseat directory with my local chapter of the ASHA, so you may gain a few readers that way. Hope you have a great ride next time you make it to the barn!
Thank you. Will you be aiming for the new jumping class at St. Louis this year? (Scurries off to update saddleseat page with 2014 posts.)
Actually no, not this year, although my horse did win the first one they had back in 2005 when Bill Moroney came and did the jumping clinic. This year i’m recovering from hand surgery, and my hunter is a little much at the shows for one handed! I’ll be showing my western horse this year, and am shooting for next year with my hunter. If things come along faster than I expect I may change my mind though and take her just for the fun of it! She hasn’t actually shown in the big shows since 2008 which was the first wrist surgery, and then this October was the 5th (and last!) So she’s had some time off to get fat and sassy. I hope you’ll like her when we finally get back out there though!
Isn’t “sassy mare” redundant? Asks the lifelong brown TB gelding owner.
Shockingly, no! Not even though she’s even a CHESTNUT mare! She loves her job, and believes she invented jumping – every jumping clinic has been her “teaching the other horses how it’s done” in her mind. She’s really fantastic. But after 4 years of almost no work… Sassypants =)
Here she is if you’re interested =)
Love the laundry cat. Eowyn makes nests in the clean clothes i have piled on the bed – especially when it’s warm from the dryer.