Big Steps

Well Saturday I judged in Peotone, which was wonderful. The drive down was a breeze, and the drive home was even faster. I was completely exhausted by days end, the horse show ran for a solid 8.5 hours. I definitely worked for my check that day!!! Loved every second of it too. Didn't love the outrageous sunburn I got all over my left side - the judges stand was in the sun all morning until the sun went over the roof about 11am. My left side proves it. Saturday night my leg was purple...it still hurts from the burn!!!!

Since I was judging, Bill went out and took care of Jimmy for me, and stood with him while the farrier put on his new 'kicks'. Bill photo-documented for me :-)
(image before the nails were taken care of) Bill said Jimmy stood like a champion and didn't mind the hammering and banging on his hooves on bit. He said Jimmy was a saint. My favorite part was when Bill said: "[Trent] wasn't very nice with Jim's legs though. He was pretty rough, actually. I tried to let him know that Jim's had a rough couple of months, but he didn't seem to care. I didn't like that. I wish he was more gentle with Jim's legs." God Bless my beau!!!! He is just the most incredible guy a girl could ever have :-) He said he enjoyed being out with "Jim" and thought watching the farrier (Trent) work was pretty interesting.

Yesterday I went out and met Lucy and Anne at the farm. We took care of Jimmy first and did his stretches, which are now his favorite thing, since there are carrots involved (and lots of them). Lucy is getting really good at doing everything herself and Jimmy loves her. He's very well behaved. He was upset when we put him back in his stall and the barn owner had a sign on his stall "BOO HOO HOO. I HAVE TO STAY INSIDE FRI/SAT/SUN" which I thought was adorable - that's exactly how he acts. Sad and pathetic because he's inside all by himself!!!

Lucy took her first lesson on Smiley yesterday. He is the perfect walk-trot horse. When I "test drove" him last week, I bounced on him a little to make sure that wouldn't phase him, and it didn't at all. Then I clucked and kicked and threw my reins at him and pretty much the most he had in him was to canter/lope for 3 or 4 strides max. He does NOT like to use any more energy than absolutely necessary. How do you spell perfect? "S-M-I-L-E-Y" hahaha. Lucy loved her lesson on him and she was off the lunge line by the end of her lesson. I see big improvements happening fast as soon as she gets more time in the saddle!! Looking forward to our Sunday 2PM lessons :-)

Tomorrow I'll go out and put JC on a line and see how the soundness looks!

Judging

Well yesterday I made my judging debut at St. Charles Farm Schooling Show. It was SUCH a blast! I absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure how I would like judging, but this was such a perfect first experience, I cannot wait to judge again in a few weeks.

I only had to speak with one trainer on the side about her student's behavior. It was the sweetest little pony who was SUCH a gem, he took wonderful care of his girl and she seemed to give less than the deserving amount of respect back to him, so I took the opportunity to speak with the trainer on the subject. I feel especially at such a young age, it's very important that we educate the future equestrians of this world that our horses are good to us, we need to always be good back to them.

The overall feedback for the day was that I was extremely fair in all of my pinning which was the best compliment anyone could have given me. I truly judged each round individually and gave them the score they deserved. The only time "favorites" came into play was when two horses had equal amount of faux pas in the over fences (refusals, rails, chips, etc.) and I would choose the safer ride, or the more brilliant horse, situation pending. Most of all, I chose safe rides all day, which made me feel great that everyone agreed that I was fair. Some of the over fences rounds had big, beautiful horses that would be perfectly suited for the 3'6" jumpers, but doing the 2'9" hunters they were buzzing around breathing fire – and that doesn't get far in my hunter ring, folks. Yes, your horse is beautiful, no I don't consider you the most brilliant ride of the bunch.

I'm so happy, this is such a new and exciting thing for me to get involved in. If anyone knows of any schooling or open horse shows that need judges, please pass my name and information along!!! I was asked to judge a horse show up in Eagle River, Wisconsin next summer, so Bill and I are going to try and plan a vacation around it :-)