Tales of Formerly Fat Quarter Horse

It's Been Awhile

2009-02-04T15:44:00.002-05:00

Gee, it's been quite some time since I've updated.
Suzie moved to Maryland a few weeks after my last post, and I was barnless for at least a month, maybe more. During that time I went on trail rides with some of my friends and rode my other friend's horse, but other than that I wasn't riding much. I found a barn to work at, but I didn't end up liking it very much. A few weeks later I went to check out my friend's old barn, and I love it there. I've been riding a little chestnut gelding named Dar, and he's got lots of personality. We're working on getting him to relax his back, lengthen his stride, and bending. He's excellent to the left, but is alot stiffer and harder to keep out on the rail to the right. He's gotten quite a bit better since the first time I rode him, and I have so much fun on him.

In my lesson on Sunday we did a small jump course, starting with little cross rails and then moving up to small verticals, around 2'3"ish. Despite being a little rusty, I felt good once we got going. I need to work a bit on seeing my distances and not going up into my two point until I feel the horse start to take off. Marina invited me to do their jumper show on the 22nd, and I'm definitely considering it. It will depend on what time of day they start, as I have volleyball on Sunday mornings.

So despite not being able to ride with any of my old barn friends anymore, I'm still enjoying myself, and I think I'll fit in just fine at the new barn. I still get to see all my old friends, too. Becky and I are headed down to Hannah's on Friday for the night, and we might do a little photo shoot with Rudy. Oh, and Suzie promised to send me a picture of Justin in his lesson this week.

Which reminds me, my lovely baby boy has found a new home. A boy in Maryland bought him from Suzie a few weeks ago, and Justin is going to be a fox hunter now! They're going to truck him over for weekly lessons, but otherwise Jman will be living happily on a big farm with three other horses. The best part is, I might be able to ride him this summer during camp because his new owner goes to camp for the summer and wants to keep Justin in work.

Success!

2008-10-16T15:04:00.003-04:00

Pipestave was this past weekend, and we had lots of fun. At least me and Justin did. We went down to the barn early on Saturday, and rode our dressage tests in the indoor. It was quite possibly the best dressage test Justin has ever and will ever complete. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the horses up and finishing the barn. After dinner we went out and braided their manes. Two hours and eighteen braids later, we put on their sheets and went to bed.
We were up at the crack of dawn the next morning. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was still dark out when we got up. We went out to the back barn to check and see if the braids were still in, and then fed everyone. Then we put all of our horses out that weren't coming to the show, and wrapped Quinny and Jasmine's legs. We put shipping boots on Justin and brought them all out to the trailer. Everyone loaded up fine and we were on our way to the show. It took about an hour and a half to get there, so we tacked up and started warming up immediately. We had just enough time to walk, trot, and canter before I was called in for dressage. The test was decent, Justin was cross cantering when we first picked up the left lead, but I brought him back and fixed the issue. It was a good test for Justin, and everything was as accurate as possible. We were in last after dressage with a 49, but not by too far. The riders in our split of the division were very competitive.
Next was cross country, our favorite part. Suzie and I ended up running half of the course walk because we needed to be back in time for Kenzie's dressage. There was nothing overly scary, although most of the course was uphill. The warm-up ring was a little crazy, people were standing in the corners while you were trying to approach one of the three warm up fences, and almost running into you. Justin was over jumping everything, and was very excited in general. We settled into a pretty good rhythm once we were on the course, and the only thing he spooked at was the people at the top of the hill. We went clean cross country, and in pretty good time.
We took a little break before stadium and sponged the horses off a little bit. Suzie also went clear, Kenz fell off before the first fence. Those jump judges are actually pony eating monsters, in case you didn't know. Stadium warm up was equally as crazy, but Justin was jumping a little better. We entered, stopped, saluted the judge, and off we went. For the first time ever in his short career as a jumper, Justin went clean! There were no rails down, no rubs, nothing. I was so proud of him, I didn't even care that we had been in last after dressage.
We ended in sixth out of nine people, which isn't bad at all for our first event. I don't think anyone was eliminated in my division, either. Suzie got fifth after having one rail down stadium. Kenz was eliminated due to her fall cross country and another fall stadium. We packed up and headed home, and J-man got several apples for his excellent behavior. You can see the videos of our dressage, stadium, and part of cross country if you search Justin Pipestave on youtube. I think they'll all show up.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2008-09-30T18:24:00.001-04:00

Kenz and I went down to the barn on Saturday, and it poured. We met with Suzie at Mack Hill, and drove down to Wildwood with her. It was raining lightly when we tacked up for the dressage portion of our lesson, but nothing major. The real rain was coming later.
We tacked up as soon as we got to the barn, me on Justin, Kenz on Quinn, and Abby on Cimmy. We were going to start with the Beginner Novice B dressage test, despite the fact that neither me or Kenz could remember it that well. Justin was rejecting any form of contact, so our main goal was accuracy. The test went well, and was one of the better tests we've done so far. We finished the test, and the right lead canter was a bit better than the left. He had a nice straight halt, and our centerlines are getting pretty good. I need to work a bit more on sitting through the downward transitions and perching a little less.
Kenz and Quinn did well, Quinn's contact is coming along really well. His canter transitions were better on Saturday, he had a few really nice ones. The accuracy wasn't as great, but the test looked alot nicer than last week. We might still have a chance at Pipestave.
Abby ended up doing a shortened version of the test because she and Cimmy still need to work on their canter transitions and cantering in general. They just did the test minus the canter circles, and they did pretty well. The concept of dressage is new to Abby, and she's doing a great job.
After the dressage tests were finished, we worked a bit on Justin's left lead, and then brought the horses in to untack and let them relax for a little bit while we set up a little cross country course around the trails. Of course, as we're carrying muck buckets out the the trail, it begins to down pour. However, we still opted to set up our course despite the weather. We used a large puddle as a water complex, with a barrel jump on the out, and then you went up the hill to a birch jump. From there, it was a short distance to a log jump and some hay bales. They you went out to the trails and jumped a log that we rested on two large rocks, then you went all the way up to the muck bucket jump up the hill. The rest was all trail with no more jumps, with the exception of another "water complex" which was really just a large puddle.
Kenz went first, and Quinn jumped the barrels the second time through the water. After they landed off the birch jump he spun and Kenz came off. She hopped right back on and continued on the course. However, she did not realize that we weren't supposed to go all the way around the corn fields, and took ages to get back. We all figured that she had fallen off again, so Suzie sent me out before she got back. Turns out that she had gone around the cornfields, and ran into some geese, turkeys, and deer in the process.
Then it was my turn. Justin, being the good boy that he is, jumped everything on the first try. I hadn't realized how far off to the left of the trail the much buckets were, and I had no crop, so when Justin started to run out, it was hard to stop him. He did jump it, despite annihilating the log on top of it. We then cantered most of the way back, including through the deep puddle. We had to trot down the side of the rocky trail, and walked at some points because it was pretty slick, but overall we had a good time. I think cross country isn't really going to be an issue for Justin.
I'm definitely excited for Pipestave. Things are looking good, and ride times will be up this Friday. Our lesson is on Sunday this week, so I'll have more updates for you then.

Update?

2008-09-21T17:02:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been a long time since I've updated. We're definitely going to Pipestave, so there's lots of practicing to be done. I guess I'll start with last weekend.
Me and Kenz came down on Saturday morning, and helped Suzie finish up the chores in the back barn. Then we set up a jump course, one of my favorites so far, and started to get our horses ready. Kenz still wasn't down to the ring by the time I was on and warming up, and after I had time to warm up at the trot both directions, we were a little curious as to where Kenzie was. Turned out that she fell off. Typical Kenz, got on bareback to ride Quinn to the barn, and fell off when he spooked. I still did the jump course while she iced her leg.
I've been having major issues with my position lately. My leg is solid, but due to a sore back, I have a really hard time getting my shoulders back and keeping them there. I have to constantly think about it, and then other parts of my riding suffer. I'm still working on getting horses on contact, because when I was first taught, I was taught incorrectly. Then I rode Panzer, who just didn't go on contact. At seventeen, we didn't want to bother working on contact until he could trot around the outdoor sanely. But that's a story for another day.
This past Saturday, I rode Buzz instead of Justin because someone that was interested in Justin came to ride him. She liked him alot, but her father seemed skeptical about them getting a horse, and about Justin's age. Buzz was fun, he's definitely come a long way from the last time I rode him. I had a rough time getting him to bend to the right, but the left was pretty nice once we got going. After we did our dressage tests, me and Kenz went out on the trail and for a nice gallop around the corn fields. Race horses are so fun.
One thing that really made me feel good was that Suzie told me that a true testiment to the work I've done with Justin is that he didn't buck, turn his butt in, or crow hop once the entire time the person rode him. He really has come a long way.

It Clicked!

2008-08-30T19:19:00.000-04:00

My goodness, we're finally getting it! Today, I am proud to announce, Justin went round, in a frame, and was bending. He looked so fabulous, although he does still get frustrated quite often. Suzie got on him to see if she could get him to to at least slightly round, instead of his typical head-in-the-air way of going. I got back on after she got him going nicely, and we had a nice moment of pleasent trotting. I have a problem with getting horses on contact because I don't know how it feels too ride a horse in a frame. It's quite a bit of work to hold everything together, but boy does he look gorgeous once we get it. We'll make a dressage horse out of him yet!

Blackberries, Anyone?

2008-08-24T09:06:00.001-04:00

So no horse show this weekend. Gretchen and her husband were busy haying, and there was no time for them to truck us to the show. Instead we did a trail ride in the morning after barn work was done, and a jumping lesson in the afternoon.
I rode Silver on the trail ride, and we led most of the way. He was a very good boy, not a single spook or any other naughty behavior. Upon our return, Suzie sent me and Kenz out to go pick blackberries for our pancakes for lunch. Unfortunately, blackberry bushes have thorns, and thorns are very painful. We managed to get enough for lunch, and the pancakes were delicious.
We set up a small course in the indoor for our lesson, no rollbacks or anything because Justin and Quinn hadn't jumped in a while. Quinn was having in off day, and looked very sluggish and uninterested, which is very un-Quinn-like. Kenzie was also tired, and opted to do the course the next day. I did it with Justin, and although there wasn't anything graceful about it, we made it over the jumps. I was having a tough time of it, due to lack of sleep and sore muscles from volleyball. We ended up having to do the outside line to the end jump (a tight turn) several times before I got it right. I really need to think more about figuring out where I need to ride to in order to make the next fence.

Ground Manners? No Way!

2008-08-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

Yet again I did not ride today. Hopefully I can get a ride to the barn on Thursday and ride then. I miss doing course work with my lovely pony.
Today I groomed him up really nice, with hoof polish, every single brush in my bag, and a whisker shaver. Shortened up his mane a bit so he wouldn't look like a brood mare, and thinned the top. Then, since we were being very rude about this whole ordeal, I decided to do a bit of ground work. We walked around the ring several times in this manner: walk walk walk, stop, Justin keeps walking, back up, stop, walk walk walk, Justin continues, back up, stop, walk walk walk, stop, and it clicked! He finally stopped, gave me a "good enough?" look, and waited for the cue to continue. I made him yeild his hind quarters away from me in both directions, which he understood the first time he was asked, I didn't even need to touch him with the rope. Cecily tried to pony him on Sunny, and Justin just looked at us like "You're kidding, right? You're going to make me do this?", but he went along with it anyways, and even gave us a little trot. He's such a smart boy.
I've been watching some old videos lately, found one of Justin's second canter under saddle. We made it three times around a twenty meter circle, with two or three small bucks. The sad part is, at that point in time, that was excellent for him. He sure has come a long way!

Bath Time Rules

2008-08-17T20:40:00.000-04:00

Went to the barn today. Didn't get a chance to ride because Suzie wasn't around and I don't have permission to ride Justin. I decided to give him a bath, since he was covered in mud. His back seems to be extremely tender once he gets the cold water on it. He enjoyed the grazing time while I bathed him, and appreciated the fact that I chose not to use Cecily's bath time rules. Sunny and Henri are no longer allowed to graze while she bathes them because they have become extremely rude. Sunny stared longingly at the grass the entire time, and slowly inched his way toward it. We ended up giving up on the rule for Henri, as he does stand still if he's eating, and it was too hard for me to hold him and Justin at the same time.

That's about it for today. We didn't accomplish too much. There's still the possibility of a show on Saturday as long as we can get a trailer. I have a lesson sometime tomorrow. I have to ride like an Eq rider, otherwise we have no chance of placing at all. Oh well, it'll still be a good experience even if we don't.

Yet Again...

2008-08-17T01:11:00.000-04:00

Another trail ride Thursday morning. I guess I should start with Wednesday though.
Braces on in the morning, then straight to the barn to stay over night. I'm a little devoted. We went for a trail ride, but since Suzie's mom was coming along, I took Buzz and she took Justin. Buzz was very well behaved, although Suzie's little black horse was veryyyy naughty. Justin was perfect, as always, and Suzie's mom thinks he's a blast to ride, mostly because her horse, Finny, is a total spook. We got back and did some more work around the barn, and later that night we got ready for another ride. Me on Annie, Kenz on Silver, Suzie on Cherokee, and Molly on Pops. Annie is fantastic, if she can jump she'll make a nice little hunter. Silver has potential to be an equitation horse, although his front legs are too crooked to jump with. Cherokee was a little naughty at first, but was going very nicely by the end of the night. The horses seemed to enjoy having the bright flood lights on them during the late night ride in the outdoor.
I had a lot of fun on Annie just goofing around. Her left lead canter still needs work, but she's coming along nicely. She leg yields extremely well, hardly even made it half way across the ring before we were back at the rail. I was fooling around a bit while we were standing, and asked her to neck rein. I added a little leg, and BAM! Instant turn on the forehand. I don't ride western at all, so I thought that was pretty darn cool. Justin needs to take some dressage lessons from Annie.
Thursday morning we cleaned the barn, and then me, Cecily, Molly, Meaghan, and Gretchen went out for a trail ride to Muddy Pond. It took about thirty minutes to get out there, with a lot of trotting on dirt roads. The lake is beautiful, we're hoping to make a spot to swim in, and considering camping out in the shelter for hikers. We decided to take the long way back, and it was definitely the long way. It took us well over an hour to get back. We left the farm at 11:30, and didn't return til after 1. I do enjoy these trail rides, although we need to get back into more ring work. Justin's back did need the break, though.
For the rest of the afternoon, me, Kenzie, and Cecily sat around the barn and discussed the olympics, riding, and life in general. Cecily leaves for college on Thursday, and we will all miss her so much. We're headed to the barn together tomorrow, and hopefully we can do a little jumping. Cec said no more dressage before she leaves!
Next Saturday we have a horse show. This will be Justin's first real show. Unfortunately, I will be a little out of my element, as it is a hunter/jumper show. We would do jumpers only, but they start at 2'9", and we aren't ready for that yet. Eq. lessons for the next week! Yuck!

The Crew

2008-08-11T18:37:00.003-04:00

I just realized that I have yet to introduce everyone! I'll tell you everyone's names, with a brief description of them. Here are some pictures for reference:

Quinn and Lucy, with Henri's face and Ace's butt in the background.

From left to right: Rudy, Cimmy and Quinn.

Left to right: Buzz, Rudy, Cimmy and Justin.

Sunny, Henri, Bailey and Lucy.

Cherokee and Suzie.

Just My Luck "Justin"-Justin is my baby boy, a fifteen year old QH with a severely long back. He loves cross country, and has a great time jumping. He may not be the most graceful thing, but he's good at his job, and has come a very long way from where we started.

Finders Keepers "Quinn"-Quinny is the troublesome five year old Welsh x Newfie cross at the barn. He's incredibly skilled at escaping from his paddock and terrorizing the other horses. He's owned by my trainer, but Kenzie rides and leases him. They're also doing low-level eventing. Despite being a bit spooky, he's very scopey and loves his work.

Sunny Daze "Sunny"-Cecily's Clyde x TB cross, Sunny, is well loved by everyone. He's a sweet heart, and very athletic. He and Cecily are currently competing at novice level with hopes of going training soon. Cecily leaves for college within the next month, so Sunny will be leaving us to go to his new leaser's home.

He's The One "Henri"-Henri is your average dork. He's allergic to bugs, constantly injuring himself, remains in the paddock even when the fence is down, and gets beat up by the littlest ponies. Due to athritis in his hocks, he no longer does much jumping, although he does enjoy it. He's Cecily's as well, and will soon be leased by Liz while Cecily is in college. He has some soundness issues, and recently injured his hip (most likely while scratching his stomach). Inconceivable "Cherokee"-Cherokee is an extremely athletic gray TB gelding that is currently in training. He and Suzie are competing at the novice level, but he definitely has the potential to go higher. He loves to jump, and is constantly aware of his rider. He's been known to let out a good buck when he hits a rail or makes a mistake, but he hasn't been bucking much since we made the switch to our new barn.

Yasou R Baez "Rudy"-Rudy is an off-the-track TB that was at the old barn, and is now owned by Hannah. He's an easy going horse, and is fairly well behaved. He and Buzz have been together for a long time, and are best buddies. He goes into an automatic headset, but he does still have some balancing issues.

Buzz Strikes "Buzz"-Buzz is yet another pesky young gelding that enjoys causing trouble. He's a seven year old OTT TB that's slightly over at the knee, but is very handsome otherwise. He's a fantastic jumper, although we don't want him jumping any higher than 2'9" due to his conformational faults. Buzz will still make a fantastic dressage horse with his bright color and flashy movements.

I Love Lucy "Lucy"-Lucy is our itty bitty little red mare. She's got the pony attitude along with witchy mare syndrome. She is owned and loved by Siri, one of our younger riders. They're currently doing cross rails and low verticals. They make an adorable pair, and are sure to clean house in the short stirrup division next show season!

Perfect Image "Buckits"-Buckits, or Blackie, is the king of self-inflicted wounds. When we first started at the old barn, he kicked through the steel bars in his stall and got his leg stuck. Luckily, Joe was there and managed to pry the bars apart and pull Blackie's leg out. This is when we got Blackie. His leg healed quickly, and he made some major progress. He's also an OTT TB, and enjoys trotting around while going completely crooked and making goofy faces. A few weeks ago, Blackie got tangled in the hot tape fencing, and mangled up his leg again. Same one, not as bad this time. He's still sound for light riding, and the wound is healing up nicely.

Corona Lee "Corona"-Corona is Suzie's old mare that she's had for 17 years. At 22 years old, Corona is also known as grandma. She had a severe abcess last summer, and tore a suspensory ligament a while back, so she's only sound at the walk and sometimes the trot. The only work she ever has to do is the occasional bareback trail ride.

Cimmy-Cimmy is our 24 year old lesson mare. She's a real sweetie, and is great for kids to learn on. She loves to jump, and is just insanely cute in general. She and Justin are best buddies.

Breakneck Bailey "Bailey"-Bailey was one of Suzie's resale projects, an OTT TB with fantastic movements and a unique personality. Our friend and one of Suzie's students bought him, and moved him to a barn closer to home. Even though he doesn't live at Wildwood, he will most likely be attending shows with us, and will pop up in some old stories.

Glenwood Ace "Ace"-Ace is the four year old OTT TB that was supposed to be a resale project. He definitely had some major issues with his head, he was one of those horses that was willing to hurt himself to escape a scary situation. Despite this attitude issue, he had come really far, and I really enjoyed working with him. Unfortunately, his owner found someone that was interested in Ace as a race horse, and he got brought back to the track. I guess you can't save 'em all.

And then there's the Wildwood crew, the horses that were there before our horses came. I don't know them as well, but I do know a few of them. Hercules is the mini colt that they rescued from an auction. They nursed him back to health, and he's a happy little pony now. Sugar is the small pony mare that was initially going to be used in lessons. Turns out that Sugar sets her own weight limit, and if anyone over 60 lbs. gets on her, she bucks like a maniac. If you can sit her bucks, eventually she'll stop and roll. Not many people ride Sugar. I told you about Scruffy yesterday, the older gelding that loves treats. There's Rocky, the black and white paint, and Sebastian, an adorable palomino. Silver is an older gray QH gelding that's used in lessons. Rebel is an extremely cute paint pony that's used in lessons. Regis is a three year old bay with the most adorable face, and Annie is Suzie's resale project at Wildwood. Pops was Gretchen's kids' competition horse at the AQHA shows, and is a real sweetie. Alley is Gretchen's old Arab gelding (yes, a gelding). There's also Comanche, Sunday, Dot, Princess, and another gray horse that I haven't really met yet.

That's most of them. Any time we get a new horse, I'll let you know, and as I begin to work at the farm more I'll have more pictures and information to share. I'm headed to the barn tomorrow afternoon into Thursday, so updates to come on Friday!

Treats for Everyone!

2008-08-11T18:18:00.000-04:00

Me and Cecily headed down to Wildwood yesterday to groom the boys and go for a short ride. Of course, once we got there it started pouring, so we decided to stay in the main barn and do some grooming before visiting the others. We pulled Cecily's Dutch Warmblood, Henri, out of his stall and brought him into the indoor. Cecily trotted him out. Still lame. Resting didn't seem to be doing any good, so Cecily asked if I wanted to take him out for a trail ride. Of course I would. So she groomed Sunny and hopped on bareback, and I groomed and tacked Henri up. I would've ridden bareback, but Henri is extremely bony and bouncy.
We set out as soon as the rain let up, but the boys were being dorks about everything, pretending that the weeds, cord wood piles, and trailers were extremely scary. Then is started pouring, so we went back into the indoor and goofed around for a bit. Several walk races later, we were ready to head inside. We untacked and put Henri and Sunny back in their stalls, and gave each of them an apple and a carrot. Lucy and Blackie both got carrots, too.
Since the rain had let up a bit, Cecily drove me out to the back barn, and we dished out the treats there, too. Scruffy had a hard time chewing his apple, but enjoyed every last bit of it. Quinn and Corona impatiently waited while I fed Scruffy, and got a carrot each. Cimmy got a carrot and an apple, and Hercules and Sugar split a carrot. Justin got a carrot and the only red apple, and the half of Cimmy's apple that she didn't eat. Hm...I wonder who the favorite is?
I'll be back down there tomorrow, so more updates to come. Hopefully we can do a dressage test tomorrow. Justin needs more work on the flat.

Last Weekend

2008-08-04T18:20:00.000-04:00

On Friday night, after my lesson at Mack Hill, I went back to Wildwood with Suzie, Kenz, and Joe. We moved around some boxes in the pink motel so me and Kenz would have some room to sleep, and in the morning we got to work. We headed out to the back barn where Corona, Quinn, Cimmy, Justin, and Scruffy stay. Cimmy and Justin live in the run-in shed, while the other three have stalls in the barn. Kenz cleaned Quinn's stall, Suzie cleaned Corona's, and I got to clean Scruffy's.

Scruffy is absolutely adorable, and our new best friend. He's a former dressage champion that is now thirty years old. He doesn't look his age, and has loads of personality. Unfortunately, his owner lives pretty far away, and only comes to see him twice a year; once to drop off his blankets in the fall, and again to pick them up in the spring. He insisted on coming into the stall while I cleaned it, and had fun tipping over my wheel barrel and eating my broom. I think we're gonna get along just fine :]

Once the stalls were cleaned, we decided to go on a trail ride, the one with the large water crossing. Once everyone was tacked up, we rode around in the ring for a bit. Justin was behaving, although we really need to work on bending and starting to get him into a frame. He has no idea and no desire to go on contact, considering all he used to do was walk on a loose rein with a leader. We headed out the gate and around past Hercules' paddock, then trotted up the hill until we reached the dirt road. The dirt road is too rocky to do anything more than a walk on, especially since most of our horses are barefoot. The trails have decent footing, and we trotted a little bit until we reached the water crossing. Cherokee walked across with a little persuasion, while Quinn and Rudy both refused to go in. I brought Justin down between them, and Rudy followed. Quinn paused to paw at the water, but eventually made his way through. Then we made our way over to the cornfields to have a good gallop. Suzie took off with Cherokee, and me and Justin followed right behind her. Cecily and Rudy were literally directly behind Justin, and Kenz and Quinn were nearly at Rudy's side. Once we reached the end, we turned around and really let loose this time. Justin was nearly at a flat out gallop to keep up with Cherokee, and Quinn was bucking like a fruit loop the entire way. Justin was so tired, he hardly even had the energy to trot down one of the hills on the way home. I guess we need to do some more conditioning!

About Us

2008-08-04T14:26:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,
this blog is about me and Justin, a fifteen year old quarter horse. We'll start with my history, then get to how I came across him.

I've been riding for three years now, and it started with me wanting to go to a horse camp. I rode at the same farm for over two and a half years, and worked my ass of to get all the ride time possible. I rode everything from the big warmblood to the little shetland pony, I didn't care what it was as long as I was riding. At the beginning of last summer I fell in love with a morgan x clyde cross named Panzer, and I worked with him up until I left that farm. My reason for leaving was that my trainer had been fired, and there were no other instructors left there that I wanted to ride with. So I headed down to my trainer's barn, which is about 45 minutes away.

Four horses came with the property, two thoroughbreds and two quarter horses. Rudy and Buzz, the thoroughbreds, are both rideable and fairly nice horses, young and athletic. Cimmy, the quarter horse mare, is your average, do-it-all lesson horse. And then there was Justin. The first time Suzie tried to put someone on him, he started rearing and bucking like a mad man. Of course, he's long backed and swaybacked, and at that point he was still fat, so it didn't do much. My trainer worked with him, and the next time I came down, she asked me to ride him, and said that we might try his first canter under saddle. Oh boy. So we had Cecily take Rudy out as a lead, and off we went, attempting a canter. I'm pretty sure we got around three strides of canter in between all the bucks.

I've been riding Justin ever since, and he's definitely come a long way. We're jumping 2'3"-2'6" courses, and his eventing career is officially started. We attended a cross country schooling show, and took third place in the Beginner Novice team division. We're hoping to go to some schooling events toward the end of August, too. I ride him every time I'm down at my trainer's barn, and our new farm has loads of trails to go on, as well as a well manicured path around the corn fields for conditioning gallops. We're also building a cross country course, which is absolutely fantastic. I'll keep everyone updated on the progress we make :]

Justin when I first started riding him.

Justin and I at the cross country schooling show.