Camp Day 5

[Sorry about the huge space after the pictures - I couldn't get rid of it!] Today was the last day of camp. I'm both happy about it and sad about it. On the bright side I won't have to wake up early, pack my lunch, or be in the sun all day, but I also won't get to ride as much, swim in a pool, or be around everyone at the barn anymore. I'm definitely planning on coming back for next year's camp though.

Annie was barely grumpy at all today. She wasn't kicking or biting or screeching or anything! I was so happy about that. Annie is much more pleasant to work with when she isn't cranky. We again started out riding today with a game. Each of us got an ice cube that we had to hold. Then the barn owner would tell us to do something, like a walk or trot or canter, and we had to do all that with the ice cube in our hand. Some people were eliminated when their ice cube melted completely, but most of us (including me) had an ice cube until the very end, at which point we ate them.

Then all the riders got in a line and we took turns doing different jumps (they were all low ones so that everyone could jump them). If you look in the picture of me riding at the top you can see part of a jump in the corner. That was the height of our jumps, if you can imagine another rail crossing the other way. Like I said, they were low enough so everyone could jump them - even me! This time when I tried to jump Annie didn't shy away from them. But she kept kind of stopping in front of them and then trotting over them. I did some good jumps over poles, but most of them were just okay. I'm still a little confused about what a half seat is, which is what we sometimes used to go over jumps, so I'll have to ask about it in my next lesson. Luckily we mostly had to jump them while posting, which was a little more clear to me. I'm just glad I made some progress by getting Annie to actually go over the jumps. I will work more on me and my body position later, hopefully at future lessons.

After jumping we got to switch around to any horses we wanted to ride to experiment with them a little, and after that we went on a little trail ride, which I think Annie enjoyed because she managed to sneak in a few leafy snacks along the way. The trail ride was a nice little cool down, both for me and I think for Annie.

When we were done feeding the horse's and eating our lunch, we headed up to the garage to get started on the posters for our contest. But before I explain that, I'd like to explain my group's costume. As you can see, I posted some pictures of our horse, Lionel, who we painted. Notice the scuba mask on his head, the oxygen tanks on his back, and the floaties around his front legs. We also put a lei around his neck. I painted all the seaweed that is running up Lionel's legs, while the other people in my group worked on the fish and the blue-green water (the fish are kind of funny, I know). I think it turned out really good! My group and I were all dressed up in bathing suits, towels, flip flops, and goggles to match Lionel. When we were all ready the barn owner took us outside and took pictures of us as a group and with Lionel. Later she printed some of the pictures out and gave them to us, which is how I got these.

So about the posters: Today each group got to make one of those tri-fold posters to promote our costumes. One of the people in my group had to leave early to take her horse back to her barn, so it was just me and one other girl. The day before she had made these cool paper bubble letters, alternating blue and green, and she made squiggly lines for sand and seaweed. She also cut out cute orange fish that looked like Goldfish. We glued those on and a ton of pictures showing different aspects of our costume, Lionel, and us. I think it looked really nice when it was done. Maybe I can take a picture of it sometime - it's standing in the barn right now. Everyone else kept saying that we would definitely win. But we won't find out until the October Fun Show. I'll probably forget about it by then!

So overall I though this was probably the best day at camp, even though painting Lionel was really fun. I'll definitely miss seeing all the campers and talking to other horsey people. I already can't wait to come back next year! Oh, and I'll let you know in October which group won. :)

Camp Day 4

Before I start, I'd like to answer a comment that was posted on a previous post asking, "What is a fly bonnet?" I tried to comment and answer back, but for some reason Blogger wouldn't let me, so I'll answer it here. A fly bonnet is used to keep flies out of a horse's ears. I posted a picture so you can see. They're really cute! And my barn has a lot of different colors to choose from. For camp I've been using a dark green one with light green ears.

Annie was way grumpier today than she's been any other day, if that's possible. In the barn, anyway. She wasn't too bad in the ring, except she kicked a horse that was too close to her butt (not too hard though, luckily!). And she only made her angry moaning noise once (which someone said sounded like a seal, which it does). Anyway, grooming was a whole different story. She kept moving away from one wall until she was backed up against the other, making it hard for me to groom her. She also kept bringing her legs up and threatening to kick me and bite me. Needless to say, I was one of the last people to go up to the ring. Which is actually okay with me because I'd rather just take my time.

We started out riding today by playing a game. We again split into our Red and Green Teams, and we again had two bucket on either side of the ring. This time there was a full bucket of water on one barrel and an empty one on the other. We had to take turns filling a cup with water and taking it over to the other side of the ring to dump it in the other bucket. Whoever had the most water in the other bucket when we were done won. My team won again. :) We got to take a victory lap around the ring, which Annie ruined by turning to the middle of the ring again. She really does not like those corners.

After that game we split into groups of three, and each group got a different puzzle. We had to know what pieces were on our puzzle, and then the barn owner mixed up the pieces and put them in different places around the ring. Once she said we could, we split up to find the puzzle pieces. Whichever team had all their pieces back in the puzzle won. Again, my team won! So I got to take another victory lap around the ring, which Annie didn't mess up this time.

The third thing we did wasn't really a game, it was more of a competition. Each team (the same groups of three as the puzzle game) had to stand side by side. Each person on the end got a long piece of a streamer (you know, that roll of tissue paper used at parties? I wasn't sure what to call it...), and the person sandwiched in the middle had to hold the ends of each streamer. Then we had to walk, side by side, around the ring. Whichever team held on to their streamers without breaking them the longest one. Surprise surprise, my team won again! After another victory lap, the others teams took one too, just for fun.

When the other teams were done their victory laps we got to work on jumping some more. Me and one other girl were pulled into the small ring to get some closer instruction with the barn owner. After a couple tries I got Annie to go over some crossrails (the lowest they could go, of course!) and we worked with that for a little bit. Then we headed down to untack, feed the horses, change, and eat lunch. I take so long untacking Annie that by the time I'm done the feeding is pretty much done also.

After lunch was the most anticipated part of today, at least for me. I told you a little about the costume contest before, but today was the day we actually painted our horses and dressed up. Hopefully I will get pictures to show you later, so I won't have to describe it to you. Basically, we painted our horse, got in our outfits, and posed for some pictures. The barn owner took pictures of all the aspects of our design as well, because I think later we might be posting them on a poster board or something.

After our pictures, we are supposed to give our horses a bath to get the paint off, but apparently the horse we picked doesn't like baths, so when one of the people in my group took him to the outside wash stall and started spraying him, he broke one of the cross ties and preceded to gallop up to the house. The girl spraying him actually did manage to get a lot of the paint off Lionel's (our horse's name) one side before he broke loose. I tried to help but most of the time I stayed clear of Lionel (our horse's name) so I wouldn't get run over. When the girl caught Lionel and brought him back, he ran away again before we could tie him up, pulling the lead rope out of the girl's hands in the process. It wasn't her fault, Lionel was just being a pain. Lionel ended up heading towards the driveway that leads out to the highway, but all three of the people in my group ran and blocked him from running that way. When Lionel was caught, they tried a different approach - they put him in the inside wash stall, and closed the barn doors. That got the job done, though when he was put back in his paddock (with some blue paint still on him) he promptly rolled in the dirt, so he is now muddy and blue. That was an entertaining thing to watch!

That pretty much ended our day. We spent about an hour at the neighbor's pool, then hung out in the barn until it was time to leave. I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow, but I hope I get to work on jumping again with Annie. Maybe this time I can prevent her from swerving as much as she did today.

Camp Day 3

Today's weather was just as nice as it was yesterday, if not better. There was a nice breeze and it was cool in the shade. In the circle today we shared who was the first horse we've ever ridden. For me, it was a horse named Sargent (I'm not sure how to spell that). All I remember about him is that he walked really weird. It was funny to hear reactions when people were remembering the horses that had come and gone.

Today for riding we worked on jumping (yay!). While other girls had to switch their horses for ones that could jump, I was glad because I didn't have to switch from Annie. I'd never jumped before, so I was a little apprehensive, but only because I knew almost everyone else had. Luckily for me, after our warm up the barn owner just kind of went over everything again to remind everyone. We started by walking and trotting our horses over some poles. Then we did that in two-point, and we practiced doing a sort of half-seat, where it was half posting half two-point. It was kind of strange to me. I still don't think I really understand it. Anyway, then the barn owner set up the smallest jump you could have, and we all trotted over that. The first time I tried Annie swerved around it. The second she stopped right in front of it. The third time I got her to go over it, and most other times after that I could too. This was pretty much the extent of my jumping today, if you could call it that. All Annie really had to do was hop over it. Not even. Most of the time she stumbled over it, making me lose my balance. I guess it's a start, anyway!

After a while of taking turns going over poles, we sort of separated into two groups - the people who wanted to jump higher, and the ones who didn't/couldn't (me). My group and I watched the others jump for a while. It was definitely cool watching them, though the jumps weren't raised very high. It was cool because the horse would trot up to the first jump, jump it, and canter out of it and over the second jump. Eventually I started to try to get Annie to go over the smallest jumps and poles over on the other side of the ring again, but she insisted on swerving and was being very difficult. I talked with the barn owner and she helped me get Annie to go over them a couple times. I don't think I did them very well, but I guess it's good just to get used to the rhythm of a horse going over some poles. Hopefully I can talk to my instructor at my next lesson and we can discuss jumping a little more.

After jumping we got to canter. All the riders got in a line and we took turns cantering around the ring. Normally Annie's pretty good about cantering, but today she refused to go into the far end of the ring, so when it was my turn and she swerved into the middle of the ring, the barn owner had me do it again until I got Annie to go into the corners. It was not an easy task and it took me a bunch of tries, and by that point I was getting really annoyed at Annie for being difficult, which I shouldn't have been, because it was partly my fault. I think I got her to do it once before we stopped. After that I was ready to go down to the barn, which is what we did.I untacked Annie and washed her back legs as I was instructed by the barn owner. Because that took me a little longer than normal, I changed and went right up to the porch for lunch.

Yesterday the barn owner told us we would be having a contest, like they did every year. It's basically a costume contest - you and your group have to pick a theme, and you get to dress up and paint your horse. My group picked an Underwater/Scuba Diving theme. I'll explain our idea in more depth later, when we actually have the contest. So after lunch, my group and I talked about what materials we needed, and then we headed down to the garage to do our craft, which was decorating memory books and sun visors. The memory books have pages so you can write what you did each day of camp.

Once we were all finished our craft, we got changed and headed over to the neighbor's pool again. This times we stayed until about 3:15, at which point we headed back to the barn to do some horse grooming type things. We watched the barn owner give Tuffy, who has an infection, a shot, and I was taught how to pull a mane. Pulling a mane is what it sounds like - you pull out hairs to make it thinner and shorter. All you have to do is seperate out a couple of hairs, wrap them around a comb, and yank. It sounds painful, but most horses don't mind it too much. I got to do it on Tuffy, whose thick, coarse mane looked much better afterwards. I'm glad I learned how to do it - it's often done on horses and I thought it would be a good thing to learn.

I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow. Again, I hope we do bareback riding (which I'm starting to think we'll never do), and if not that I would like to try jumping again. I'm also hoping the weather stays nice and breezy!

Camp Day 2

Today was based around the same structure as yesterday. When we were gathered in a circle in the garage, we were all given a designated place in the barn to groom and tack up, which we would be in for the rest of the week. I got to go in the inside wash stall, which is near the front of the barn and set back from the main aisle. I got this because of Annie's sensitivity near hear butt, but I was happy too because it's a little bit away from the chaos of the rest of the barn. We also shared what would be our dream vacation with horses. I said mine would be to go trail riding in the mountains. I think that would be really fun. After that we groomed, tacked up, and got on our horses in the ring.

Today was a fun day for riding. It wasn't as hot and humid as yesterday either, and it felt pretty nice in the shade. Even Annie wasn't too cranky. After warming up, we did some relays. We split into a Green Team and a Red Team (I was on Green) and we went over the rules for the first relay. Both teams had two white barrels at each end of the ring. We had a bucket, a glue stick, and a list of horse related items on the first barrel, and a horse magazine on the other. We had to trot (or walk or canter, it didn't matter) over some poles until we got to the barrel at that end of the ring, dismount, and flip through the magazine until we found the picture of an item on the list. Then we had to rip out the picture and walk our horses back to our teammates, where we had to get back on our horse. The next person after you couldn't go until you were back on your horse. Once we had pictures of all the items on our list inside our bucket, we had to glue them all onto a piece of paper. The first team to glue on all the items won. My team ended up winning too! It took a while, and it was hard to find some pictures in the magazine, but it was definitely a lot of fun (even though Annie was pretty annoyed at me for getting on and off of her so many times).

The second relay went a lot faster. There were two lines of poles set up, one for each team, with a small cup on the first one. We had to line up single file with our teammates, and move at a trot along one side of the poles. The first person had to move the cup from the first pole to the second, the second person had to move the cup from the second pole to the third, and so on. If you got the cup to the last pole without dropping it or skipping a person, you won. But if you dropped it, you had to get off your horse to pick up the cup, get back on your horse, get back in line, and start the whole thing over again. If a person missed getting the cup, the whole line had to loop around and continue from where they left off. I'm not really sure we even had a winner for this relay. We ended up practicing it so many times that we didn't really compete against the other team. That's okay though, because it was so fun to do and really funny if someone dropped the cup. Luckily I had thought to bring my water bottle up today, so I took some breaks to just sit and drink.

After the relays, we got to do some cantering. We took turns though, so one group stayed in what used to be the small ring while the other got to be in what used to be the big ring. I attempted to get Annie to do a right lead canter, but we only got it once. It's better than nothing, I guess! It was really fun to just fly around that ring though, without too many people getting in the way.

This time when we went down to untack I wasn't too tired or dehydrated. I got Annie back to her paddock with no major problems, and then we went up to eat lunch. After that we went back to the garage to finish up our jewelry boxes. I ended up putting a lighter green trim around the edges of my box. After hanging out for a while, we got to go over to the neighbor's pool that we were going to go to yesterday. I didn't feel like swimming, because it actually wasn't that hot out, so I sat with some other girls on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water. It was a nice time to just sit and talk in the shade. We left a little early to go back to the barn, where we could either color in the garage or watch someone free lunge the horse Janie. I chose to color for an hour. That pretty much ended my day. I would say today was much more enjoyable because I was more comfortable, and it wasn't as hot. I'm hoping tomorrow we get to ride bareback because it's super fun. I should have time to blog about camp tomorrow, so check back here then!

Lesson 7/26/11

About a month ago, when we were deciding on whether or not I wanted to have a lesson on the same day I would be at camp, my answer had been "Duh!" But as my lesson approached, all I could think was "What was I thinking??" I was really tired from camp and I was running out of water. But I still did want to have my lesson, even though I was already beat. But I can't say the lesson started out too good. When I went to get Annie in her shed, I got stung by two wasps, and once I got Annie on the crossties in the barn, she was even grumpier than she was earlier that day. I guess by that point she was sick of being ridden and wanted a longer break. Also, I kept messing things up that I normally don't, like putting on the girth backwards. My mind was kind of somewhere else then.

Anyway, once I got up to the ring with no more major issues, I got on Annie and we started our warm-up. We talked about half halts again and I practiced those, and then I did some figure-eights at the trot. After that I told my instructor I wanted to work on getting Annie to do a right lead canter, which we worked at for a while, and which I eventually got (yay!) Then I worked on turning from my seat, so I had to loosen my reins all the way and try to get Annie to turn without using them. That was not easy, and I found out my seat bones don't stay balanced when I try to turn from my seat. I was told I should practice from a chair to help me get the feel of it, which I will try to remember to do.

I guess I was pretty glad when the lesson was over. It's not that I didn't enjoy it or anything, it's just that I was tired of using my seat to turn, mentally and physically. I'm hoping next week I will be more focused and energetic at my lesson, which I should be. Right then I just needed to go home, get some water, and take an ice cold shower (which is just what I did). And thank goodness for my mom, who brought me some chocolate and a bottle of ice cold water when she picked me up. Even after my shower though, my whole legs ached and I went to bed extra early because I was so tired. It's a good thing too, because I had to get up at 8 again for another full day of camp. I will blog about my second day at camp after I finish this post, so look for that later!

Camp Day 1

Sorry I didn't get a chance to write this post before, but I didn't get home until about 6:15 yesterday, and I was extremely tired from riding and being in the sun all day. I have to say that when I woke up yesterday morning, I really did not want to go to camp. I was tired from being up early (and getting up at 7 rather than 8 because my clock was set wrong) and a little apprehensive about the day ahead. And once I stepped outside my house, I realized it was going to be really hot and humid that day (it's going to be all week though). Luckily it did rain in the afternoon, giving us a break from the humidity and sun.

After getting our name tags (there's only nine campers, including me) we went up to the barn owner's garage and sat in a circle. We went around and took turns saying our scariest horse moment and something we wanted to learn or improve on in the week. I said that I didn't have a scariest horse moment, because I haven't even been riding for that long, and that I wanted to learn how to tie a fly bonnet. Then the barn owner went over the horses we would be riding (I rode Annie) and we went to go tack up.

Annie's usually grumpy, but today she was especially grumpy. She kept making weird squealing noises when a horse got too close to her butt that freaked everyone out. It was chaos in the barn too, which didn't help, but I did learn how to tie a fly bonnet! Once we were up in the ring and on our horses, we all warmed up around the ring (which had been turned into one giant one so there would be more room). It got a little crowded at times when everyone was trying to get by jumps and barrels and poles at the same time, but once you broke away from the group there was enough room. We then worked on half-halts, which basically means you ask your horse to halt, but when they are just about to, you ask them to move forward again. This helps your horse collect itself and rebalance.

After a while we switched to pole bending. This was how it worked: We had to walk, trot or canter our horse (it didn't matter) along one side of a row of poles, turn around at the end, and then weave the poles down once and up once. Then we had to turn around again and walk, trot, or canter back to the beginning without weaving. We were also timed. I went last the first time, and I trotted the whole way except for the last straight stretch, which I cantered. I think I got around 59 seconds or something. For my second turn I half trotted, half cantered the way up (because Annie decided she wanted to canter), trotted when weaving the poles, and cantered coming back. I got about 56 seconds this time. Everyone got two turns, so it was nice to just sit in the shade and watch.

When everyone had gone twice, it was time for anyone who wanted to switch horses to switch. Someone wanted to ride Annie, so I got off, switched a couple times, and ended up with Annie again when we were done. After that we went down to the barn to untack. At this point I was dying because I had not thought to bring my water bottle, so I was desperate to hurry up and untack. Once I finally did I ended up chugging so much water my stomach hurt (I now know not to do that!). Then we had to feed the horses, which didn't take long, and after that we went up to the porch to eat lunch, which was a much needed break.

The next thing on our schedule was to go back to the garage to paint wooden jewelry boxes. I painted mine dark green, and it was fun to see everyone else's too. Some people went crazy and painted their's ten different colors, and some people went simple like I did with one solid color. We were to finish painting them the next day. About half-way through painting, it started to thunder, and then it started to pour. After painting we were planning on going swimming in the neighbor's pool, but their filter was broken so we couldn't. It was okay though, because we wouldn't have been able to swim in the thunder and rain anyway. So we decided to go into the house and watch a movie and eat popcorn. We watched this old movie called Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken, and I must say I wasn't expecting to like it much, but I actually did. It was a true story, and it was pretty incredible.

When the movie was done we all decided to try vaulting, which we saw in the movie. Not when the horse was moving like in the movie, but just when the horse was standing still. So we brought two horses up, one small (Rita) and one bigger (Rosie), and left them bareback so we could practice. We tried to lift ourselves up onto a horse's back without using anything to help us, which was pretty much impossible on Rosie, so we all brought her next to a wooden platform about six inches high and we vaulted from there. That I could do (sort of). I wouldn't say it was graceful or anything, but I got up there somehow. With Rita, no one needed a platform because she was so tiny. I could get on her with no problem. It must have looked very funny to see me on such a small horse, but I definitely had a lot of fun trying out vaulting and laughing with people at our lame attempts.

By that point it was around 4:15, so when my stepdad came to pick me up I decided to just stay till my lesson at 5. So I went down and got my riding clothes and changed into them again (which was not easy to do when all my clothes were inside out and sweaty). I'll write about my lesson in a different blog post, as usual. I hope I didn't bore you guys with my ranting about my day, so congratulations if you made it this far! :)

How to Groom a Horse

This was another post requested by someone who reads my blog. Now that I think about it, I probably should have done these types of posts when I started my blog - teaching the basics and everything - but it never occurred to me. So I'm doing it now.

Grooming is something I do before every ride. It's a simple routine, that involves only four basic steps. I'm going to go through my routine, step by step, and teach you the way I was taught.

I also posted a picture of grooming tools so you can see. I'll put in parentheses where each tool is on the picture.

1. Curry Comb (top left) - This is used to bring up all the dirt and loose hair on your horse. You use it by brushing in circles on the horse's neck, back, shoulders. You shouldn't use it on the horse's face or legs because the rubber points would really hurt the horse.

2. Hard Brush (top right) - After the curry comb comes the hard brush. The name pretty much says it all. It's a brush with rough bristles and it's used to flick off the dirt and hair that you brought up with the curry comb. You use it by brushing in a flicking motion to sweep the loose hair and dirt away from the horse, always going in the direction of the horse's hair. As with the curry comb, you can't use it on the horse's legs or face.

Note: Some people like to do the curry comb and then the hard brush, one after the other, because when you're done you can clean out the brush with the curry comb and vice versa, but I like to do each separately so I can place my hand on the horse. This is what my instructor taught me to do, and I like it because I can feel my horse as I brush. That sounds weird, but I feel safer if my one hand is on my horse for some reason.

3. Soft Brush (bottom left) - After the hard brush, I use the soft brush. It's used to get the remaining hair and dirt off the horse, and it has softer bristles so you can use this on the horse's face and legs. Basically all you do is brush with long strokes all along the horse, going with the direction of the horse's hair.

4. Hoof Pick (bottom right) - This is the last step I do. Some people brush their horse's mane and tail with a comb, but I usually don't do that. A hoof pick is used to get the mud, dirt, and manure (fun stuff, I know) out of the horse's hooves. The first thing I do is stand next to my horse's leg, facing backwards towards their tail. Then I run my hand down their leg, because it lets my horse know what I'm asking them to do. If all goes well, my horse will pick up its foot for me to grab with one hand. If that doesn't work for me I will lean into my horse's shoulders, which forces them to shift their weight and pick up their hoof.

If you look at the picture below you can see that in the middle of the hoof there is a triangle shaped thing. That is called the 'frog'. Once I have my horse's hoof in my hand I take the hoof pick and start picking out dirt along the frog. You should never try to clean the frog with a hoof pick, because it's pretty sensitive and the horse probably won't like it. Then you do the same thing for each hoof. (Often when I try to pick up the back hooves on my horse they will bring it up really far to stretch it out, which can be annoying. It's also annoying when I'm picking the back hooves and my horse will swish their tail on my head - and sometimes it gets caught in my hair clips!)

That's pretty much all there is to grooming. After grooming I tack up (meaning I put on the saddle and bridle). Again, sorry if I make this confusing to everyone and I hope you learned something!