I think everyone was feeling affectionate today.
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| winton and ranger |
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| winton and jamie |
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| winton and Ranger |
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| missy and beegee |
Monday, January 31, 2011
tidbits!
Oh! also, I found out that Hunter loves him some dried pineapple. AND a Chihuahua tried to eat my face the other day.
rollercoaster
No, we did not go to an amusement park, though it would have been fun. Today we took another cross country lesson. And we are moving on up in our skill level, or perhaps it is just whatever missy thinks will be amusing for us to do. And we have video documentation!
I rode Winton and Jen rode Ranger, both of whom were wonderful and forgiving and super excited.
We jumped around a little, over barrels, logs and some scary floating logs over seas of stone, scary scary, and then we jumped through the most fun cross country obstacle yet:
Other exciting news, the chiropractor came and adjusted half the boys, the other half he will do tomorrow. He said they all felt pretty darned good, Hubert and Hunter particularly considering they hunted for 4 1/2 hours yesterday.
And that was all the excitement for today. Tomorrow Missy will jump Journey and Springer, tune up the other two boys Jen and I rode today, and, fingers crossed, will be nothing but impressed with how theya re going :)
until tomorrow.
I rode Winton and Jen rode Ranger, both of whom were wonderful and forgiving and super excited.
We jumped around a little, over barrels, logs and some scary floating logs over seas of stone, scary scary, and then we jumped through the most fun cross country obstacle yet:
We also got to jump the stone walls from one field to the other, gallop down the hill, over a little ditch, then up and over a few big logs lashed together and into the water, cantering through, and then up a bank out of the water.
too bad my camera died after the rollercoaster. Missy promised we will do it again though, and this time, we'll take some video to show off our amazing water complex skills.
And that was all the excitement for today. Tomorrow Missy will jump Journey and Springer, tune up the other two boys Jen and I rode today, and, fingers crossed, will be nothing but impressed with how theya re going :)
until tomorrow.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
hunting with Live Oak
Today we went hunting with Live Oak, a hunt up in Tallahassee Fl. they are known for being the best around, and, well. we certainly drove a ways to get there. After waking up at 2:15am, leaving the barn around 4:07 am we drove three hours or so north, to this incredibly beautiful country.
It looked a little ho hum as we first hacked out into the woods. However, the fog quickly closed in, creating a kind of creepily quiet, swirling mist through which we walked through. hounds bounding in an out of sight through the fog, sometimes it lifted enough to see the ground stretching further than the tops of the trees, sometimes completely shrouding everything but what was fifteen feet in front of you.
It seemed like a scene straight of of sleepy hollow, or a tim burton film with the trees dripping with spanish moss and mist, everything either bright green or a muted greyish brown.
So as we were carrying on, every few minutes, someone would stroll or trot up on their horse, introduce themselves, and then proceed to not only warmly welcome us, compliment our "incredibly hansom" "super cute" "so adorable" "perfect foxhunter" horses, but they would ask us about where we were from, how long we were staying, and we would of course be coming back, wouldn't we?
and considering how much fun it was, even though it "wasnt a normal Live Oak day", we are going to try and go again next sunday if we aren't too tired. (And missy said she wanted to come too!)
Honestly. Everyone could not have been nicer. Seriously the most welcomed I have felt in a really long time, anywhere, and I am pretty sure jen halds the same sentiment. Just the nices folks. and funny. and entertaining.
keeping that in mind, and the fact that it wasn't a normal live oak day, we hunted for FOUR AND HALF hours. by the time we were back at the trailers the day had substantially warmed up, from about 38 degrees to 70, and the whole field, led by the master, had shed their jackets, and some their vests as well. They all started out saying how cold it was, then how hot. silly floridians.
There were also two folks visiting from Canada, one was the master in Vancouver I believe, and his wife. Their season is even shorter (who knew it was possible) than ours in Pa.
We got on a couple little runs through the day, one just back to the trailer to tape together the masters horse, as he stepped on himself and was bleeding pretty good. And we got to do more jumping than they had thought we would, some really nice coops, the biggest about three feet, maybe three three, nothing too crazy.
And we caught two grey fox. Apparently in that area they hunt, grey and red fox, bobcats, coyote and wild boar. CRAZY! Jen will get the mask and brush from the second fox of the day. And everyone insisted it go to one of their guests.
It looked a little ho hum as we first hacked out into the woods. However, the fog quickly closed in, creating a kind of creepily quiet, swirling mist through which we walked through. hounds bounding in an out of sight through the fog, sometimes it lifted enough to see the ground stretching further than the tops of the trees, sometimes completely shrouding everything but what was fifteen feet in front of you.
It seemed like a scene straight of of sleepy hollow, or a tim burton film with the trees dripping with spanish moss and mist, everything either bright green or a muted greyish brown.
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| the first field we walked through |
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| fog dropping down |
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| our crew. jen and hubert, ann and riley |
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| the mist on Hunter's eyelashes. |
and considering how much fun it was, even though it "wasnt a normal Live Oak day", we are going to try and go again next sunday if we aren't too tired. (And missy said she wanted to come too!)
Honestly. Everyone could not have been nicer. Seriously the most welcomed I have felt in a really long time, anywhere, and I am pretty sure jen halds the same sentiment. Just the nices folks. and funny. and entertaining.
keeping that in mind, and the fact that it wasn't a normal live oak day, we hunted for FOUR AND HALF hours. by the time we were back at the trailers the day had substantially warmed up, from about 38 degrees to 70, and the whole field, led by the master, had shed their jackets, and some their vests as well. They all started out saying how cold it was, then how hot. silly floridians.
There were also two folks visiting from Canada, one was the master in Vancouver I believe, and his wife. Their season is even shorter (who knew it was possible) than ours in Pa.
We got on a couple little runs through the day, one just back to the trailer to tape together the masters horse, as he stepped on himself and was bleeding pretty good. And we got to do more jumping than they had thought we would, some really nice coops, the biggest about three feet, maybe three three, nothing too crazy.
And we caught two grey fox. Apparently in that area they hunt, grey and red fox, bobcats, coyote and wild boar. CRAZY! Jen will get the mask and brush from the second fox of the day. And everyone insisted it go to one of their guests.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
"an easy day"
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| getting steph ready for her cross country |
Today, saturday, was our easy day. We got a bunch of stuff done yesterday so we could go to the horse show that everyone and i mean EVERYONE was competing in. We took our first two sets out after all our. barn chores this morning and then headed over to Rocking Horse, which is a good hour fifteen or so. We wanted to get there to see a huge list of folks. Mostly Missy do her cross country on mr fantastic.
but we also got to see buck and bruce davidson, karen oconor, one of her students; hannah, as well as missy and her student steph (see above photo).
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| mr fantastic looking fantastic |
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| the sea of trailers. more than i have ever seen in one place |
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then, after hanging around, trecking across the GIGANTIC cross country course, and, gasp, helping Missy and her student/worker steph who also had two horses running, we left around 4pm. got back to the barn, fed, got the last two of our horses ready to roll in a hurry, and trotted over to longwood to do the craziest thing i think have done to date. we took a cross country lesson in the dark. like not fading light dark, but sun down, no moon, no shadows, cant really even see a horse cantering towards you kindda dark.
It was NUTS! and really fun. Jen and I rode hubert and hunter respectively and all we could do was get a good canter be straight, and they had to do the rest, because we really couldn't see. So much trust involved on both ends. I didnt know until after the lesson, but apparently Missy's first, or one of the first lessons she ever had with David O'Conor was in the dark, like the kind of dark we experienced tonight. Pretty cool.
Anyway. We got home around 8 and here we are. i need to go to sleep. (up at 2:15 for hunting tomorrow) so until next time!
this is missy and mr fantastic during their cross country course. they were in 1st until they went too slow cross country, and fell to third. we think.
Friday, January 28, 2011
friday trotting.
Today we did incredibly long trot sets with the horses. We hacked out to the gate in between longwood and meredith south and then troted all the way around longwood, through woods scattered with jumpable logs and ditches, through two cross country fields and around two others. then back through meredith and around the perimeter there, up the last stretch through the sparse grove of trees up to the small six horse barn where our horses are happily staying.
As we brought the first set back to the barn, we saw the unthinkable.Hunter, who is known for being flighty and uncomfortable in new places.... took a nap in the sun! laying down! I have NEVER seen him lying down except to roll, which as a grey he does about five zillion times a day. See, he is the kind of horse that always has one ear on you and one on everything else happening in a five mile radius.
Anyway. It was exciting.
Tomorrow we will do some more trot/canter sets with the horses, and with the two we are taking hunting sunday, Hunter and Hubert, we will take a short jumping lesson from missy after she comes back from her event (@ rocking horse)
Hopefully we can make it over to the show to watch her and Karen's cross country courses as well as a few folks from home who are also competing. Its going to be a whos who of the eventing world. should be fun to watch. (i'll bring my camera of course)
So Sunday, should be amazing. we are taking two horses to hunt with Live Oak, which is apparently the best around. Fast and furious, i hope. the unfortunate part is having to pull out of the barn at 4am. lots and lots of coffee. and snacks. and more coffee.
but it'll be loads o' fun!
until later.
As we brought the first set back to the barn, we saw the unthinkable.Hunter, who is known for being flighty and uncomfortable in new places.... took a nap in the sun! laying down! I have NEVER seen him lying down except to roll, which as a grey he does about five zillion times a day. See, he is the kind of horse that always has one ear on you and one on everything else happening in a five mile radius.
Anyway. It was exciting.
Tomorrow we will do some more trot/canter sets with the horses, and with the two we are taking hunting sunday, Hunter and Hubert, we will take a short jumping lesson from missy after she comes back from her event (@ rocking horse)
Hopefully we can make it over to the show to watch her and Karen's cross country courses as well as a few folks from home who are also competing. Its going to be a whos who of the eventing world. should be fun to watch. (i'll bring my camera of course)
So Sunday, should be amazing. we are taking two horses to hunt with Live Oak, which is apparently the best around. Fast and furious, i hope. the unfortunate part is having to pull out of the barn at 4am. lots and lots of coffee. and snacks. and more coffee.
but it'll be loads o' fun!
until later.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
florida. photos.
After packing for weeks, driving for 20 hours, and fretting more than we would like to admit. we are here, and have been for a few days. and here are some photos i have accumulated thus far:
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| Hunter + newly painted board fence = newly painted Hunter |
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| The Horse Hotel, Meredith South |
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| Meredith South, the fence line on the left is the property line between Meredith and Longwood |
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| Stadium field, Longwood |
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| stadium field, Longwood |
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| 2 jointed cross country fields, Longwood |
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| Journey ridden by Missy, Longwood |
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| Metal Jumper and his new helmet adornment, Longwood |
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| Cross Country field. Longwood |
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| Cross country field, Longwood |
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| Jen showing scale of a few of the jumps @ Longwood |
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| Jen and Hubert, Longwood |
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| Dory and Winton, Longwood (Our first cross country lesson was a complete success. We even impressed Missy. We had such a blast as did the boys, strutting around like real event horses.) |
Pre-Florida "vacation"
When we left, the horses had been going out in their pastures, that were beautifully snowy, but there wasnt too much we could do to vary their routine and really keep them fit. There are only so many days a week you can ride around and around in an indoor before they get bored and frustrated and grumpy.
and now. we are happily in Florida. Where the sun is bright and the horses still furry, but super happy.
and now. we are happily in Florida. Where the sun is bright and the horses still furry, but super happy.
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