Issues.....Fixed?

 Sorry I've been MIA. I know you've all dreadfully missed my droll posts. Life after graduation, especially after breaking up with one's boyfriend, with no hope of a big girl job, avoiding looking at final grades and no real hopes for the future, can be quite depressing.

Anyways.

Yankee has been off almost as much as me with Jackie working her pa-tooty off to pay for Queeny and me laying around feeling sorry for myself. However, Sunday dawned bright and early and we packed up pony and headed to STL to school XC for the day!

Yankee suited up for the 2 hour drive

ALSO. New scrim sheet. $20 on consignment for the WIN. Reason I was at the tack store? to pick up these babies (rented)...

Meyler D-ring, lever action, Level II

Meyler combo bit, Level II

AS some of you may know, I've been in a 6 year predicament with the bitting situation for said horse. When he was right off the track I used a rubber mouthed 3-ring. Worked for a few years and was the right leverage and whatnot. Once he got more responsive and well trained, I bumped it down to a waterford full chek. He didn't respect that at all. Then I tried a waterford loose ring. Respected...for the most part. He still tried to take the bit in his mouth and charge after every fence. He's not being naughty, just exuberant.

I like exuberant. But I don't like runaway OTTB.  Runanway is a loose term. More like, overexcited.

Anyways, we set off at 7AM for STL, settled in with snacks and a full gas tank, ready for the drive. It went wihthout a hitch and we arrived around 9, checked in, and tacked up! Yankee was so perfect. Not once did he act up likr he used to as a baby OTTB, I never thought I would see the day I had a well behaved horse!!

It was already like 85 degrees, and we were both drenched just from tacking up...Cue pack mule Monica.

 I brought 2 waters, a change of gloves, our phones (of course), my keys, our money and a spare bridle (for the meyler bit #2)

At first...we had issues...Lots of issues. I was getting a titch worried about them competing at Training in 2 weeks. Yankee refused everything. Well, almost everything. At first I attributed it to the grass. It was long, and Yankee is a little bitch about footing. But he then refused this log into the water like 5 times....

Jumped it perfectly out though!

 Then he refused little logs. The down bank. Twice.

PERPLEXED. Where is my cross-country-attack-horse-machine I know and love? 

Poor jackie I think was a bit embarrassed, since we were "with" a group of about 6 (one of whom is an old friend who I love and missed dearly!) and Yanks was being a jackass. She was doing the best she could but he was refusing like he didn't even WANT to jump. 

Eventually after mastering the Novice stuff, ( -_-)  we meandered to another bank complex.

He kept refusing. Over and over and over and over. 

WHAT THE FLIP YANKEE?!

I was out of explanations. He would "lock on" to a fence, then just decide last minute, "no thanks" and either slide to a stop (dangerously I might add, I thought he was going to flip twice) or ducked out. Once, Jackie almost fell off, landing on his neck. I felt SO bad.

I was concerned now. He was refusing things that were EASY to him. Not like we were facing him up against massive Prelim stuff as warm-up, we were doing the Novice jumps and small training questions.

GAH. So annoyed.

After moving on to another complex with a hanging log (T), banks up and down (P&T) and some free standing jumps like a chevron, hogsback and tiger trap (all T) and him STILL refusing things completely randomly (he would jump it beautifully twice, then refuse it the third time...???) and seeing  him almost run off with Jackie (scary), I switched bits to the leverage Meyler.

It looked medieval.

But was magical.

Bounding over the Training level Corner

Better.

Beasting the Prelim Rolltop

 That and the combination of my dumb-ass brain FINALLY putting together WHY he was fizzling out a stride before (Jackie was unintentionally dropping him. Meaning, with her grand prix horses, she was used to setting them up for the fence, then not touching them. Not really "dropping" but in a sense, thats what Yankee thought. He didn't feel her support all the way to the fence, so he just didn't do it. I finally figured it out, took long enough!) and when we fixed it, he was an effing badass!!!

He tackled all the Prelim stuff without hesitation and had a renewed vigor for schooling. 

PHEW! I was getting worried.

My favorite moment of the day is when he completely sailed over this massive chevron table...

I was almost filled with tears! HAHA.

It was great feeling, finally getting to see your horse jump something so massive, so perfectly!

Badass effort over the Prelim trek.

 After 2 hours of schooling, walking all over creation and sweating our balls off, we called it a day and headed back to the trailer for a well earned bath.

I'm really glad we figured it out before the show, AND actually went to do this. Yeah, it was 4 hours round trip and costed us about $150, but it was well worth it.

I got super spoiled in OH, we had a FULL XC course starter-intermediate about 20 min. form my house...gah!

Only "bad" thing that came out of this was that  it is 100% obvious that the meyler bit is perfect for Yankee. It doesn't collapse in his mouth, doesn't over flex him, and puts pressur e on his nose when it needs to. Sadly its $150.

It would be.

Graduation Visit

WHOOP WHOOP!!

The entire family wanted to see Yankee today, and after a WHOLE day of worrying and not being able to see him (regarding the crib collar/fly sheet issue) I was relieved to see that the swelling had almost all gone down and he was almost 100% back to normal. I haven't ridden yet to see if he's stiff, but PHEW!

Doesn't he look ridiculous in his fly gear?! (also, that is my Mizzou Alumni shirt. Feels weird to say...)

 

Hahaha. 

 

Yeah I am one of THOSE owners. Decking their horses out in fly suits. (In my defense, he seems to be happier when he doesn't have flies eating him non-stop. He is quite the baby.)

 

At least he doesn't have leg wraps for flies. Now THAT would be excessive. 

 

 Also, I found this gem at the grocery store today..

Why yes, that IS a 25lb. bag of carrots.

I was tempted to buy it just to say I had 25lbs. of carrots. But I didn't.

In other news, I missed my favorite horse trial this weekend, but I also am sending the Queeny Park entry tomorrow to make up for missing MCPC.

Prrrretty stoked, even if I'm not the one riding.

I hope to ride the pony for the first time in like, a week, tomorrow in between crazy paperwork for Alum stuff, paying remaining school tuition, job hunting and etc. etc.

I promise more exciting blog posts will come in the future. XC schooling May 20th and various other fun happenings.

Oh Lawdy, Today Was Not A Good Day For This

Tis' graduation weekend. Today I walk across the stage and receive that $78,000 Diploma that pretty much just says that I conformed to collegiate standards and barely scraped by on the skin of my teeth. Yay.

Anyways, magically, Yankee's jumping problem went away altogether. Jackie jumped him for her parents on Friday and he was perfect. Freakin' weirdo.

It being graduation weekend, I found someone to feed the pony for me (I'm on self care board) all weekend PM's, so I could spend it with my family that came up. Pretty awesome actually, because driving to the barn twice a day, everyday gets old REAL quick. No offense Yanks!

I got the barn early to feed and Yankee was already at the gate. Warning signs. His head was also hanging and he nickered to me. OK, big neon warning sign flashing in my face.

I remained calm and s didn't need more than .03 seconds to see what was wrong with him.

The girl who fed him last night attached his fly sheet to his cribbing collar, which was now halfway down his neck, cutting off all the circulation to the front half of his neck, and whole head. IT. WAS. SO. SWOLLEN. I almost cried!

He was in a ton of pain since the collar is meant to stay right behind his jowls and only tighten when he cribs. It was now around the meaty muscle of his neck, still as tight as it is when its where its supposed to be.

I didn't know what to do! I thought that by taking it off, all the blood would rush out of his face to quick and kill him. Crazy right? My mind thinks of the worst.

I struggled to get it off since it was so tight, but instantly after the swelling went down and he was much more chipper.

He acted liek his old self again and charged into his stall for noms. He ate his grain as usual, and I was a little relieved.

The flash makes the giant lump behind his jaw hard to see, and the one on his neck. Not even sure why I added this pic.

I'm still worried about damage to his muscles though. There are these massive lumps all over his neck and face and they are quite hard. GAH.

I REALLY hope this didn't permanently damage anything :/ I have a barn friend checking on him all day since I can't just leave my whole family at the Hearnes Center, watching everyone else graduate while I sit with my horse all day. But dammit. I want to!

I HATE ALL THE THINGS. Oh and Puissiance & Jumper Show Updates

This is my life.

I have one exam left. I need 1% point overall to get the grade I want. Meaning I need to boss this exam tomorrow and I can't for the m'fn life of me concentrate because all I can think about is how important the exam is and then I'm like "I'M GOING TO FAIL AND THEN DIE". Its a horrible vicious circle and I'm beginning to hyperventilate at midnight thinking about how I have 13 hours till the exam of doom.

In other more interesting news.

I am finally updating on things that happened last week. Literally. Apologies, but I have been up to my eyeballs in schoolwork.

Sometime last week...I think it was Thursday, Jackie and I went to the barn with the intentions of having a nice jump school with Mr. Pants before this random Jumper Show we decided to enter on Saturday.

Since we are badasses and Yankee is a monster and we have strong curious tendencies, the "Yankee Puissiance" was born.

Oh, it was really as exciting as it sounded. I almost peed my pants.

I've always had this weird issue with jumping, ever since Yankee and I slid majestically through an entire Training level course 3 years ago. I don't know what it is about stadium, but its like I clinch up slightly right before takeoff, and he feels that and jumps like shit. Totally a mind game with myself, but I have issues getting over things like that.

Unlike me though, Jackie is full of badassery and doesn't bat an eye. Coudl be the fact that she rode a massive stallion GP and basically beasted so whatever she jumps with Yankee is like, "Meh, whatevs". Love her.

We started warm-up and began the jump height at 3'3. Easily cleared.
3'6, "HAHAHa I nicker at your puny jumps."
3'9..."was this a joke??"
4'...I  begin holding breath. Still easy for le ponee.
4'3...I may or may not have screamed.
-"PFFT, god this is like, cake", says yanks

"4'3, doesnt bother me"

What the hell, he was clearing everything with AIR to SPARE. Leke seriously, I was blown away. Up to 4'6 it went. (These are not multiple attempts either, whenever he cleared one height, I bumped it up. He was literally in attack mode he was having so much fun)

"PFFFT, 4'6? Pile of sticks"

Isn't that cool? Never thought I would see my OTTB beast it out like that. Notice how his body is clearing the ENTIRE standard??

Since he cleared 4'6 like it was NOTHING so I moved it to 4'9...

Apparently 4'6 is his max. I'll take that any day bro.

Jackie said that he "locked on" to the 4'9 but when he realized he couldn't see ove rthe top, he faltered. No prob big guy, you are solid!

We bumped it down to 4' and he cleared it handily, and again willingly, with room to spare.

 Last winter I free jumped him 5'3, so I KNOW he can do that, but I think with a rider on his back (we be fatties yo) he just can't.

I hopped on to jump my guy and he refused it the first time. Gee, that didn't give me any confidence. I superbly loathe how Jackie rides my horse better than me over fences...ha! Second time at 4' we got it. Mostly cuz I almost closed my eyes.

I have issues.

 

I also rode this adorable thing:

 

 Molly! The 13h pony. She is literally the cutest, most willing pony in the world. And she's for sale! Know any little kids looking for a boss pony? Say herro to Good Golly Miss Molly!

SWITCHING GEARS: Jumper Show Saturday

We set out to do this show for funsies.

It ended up not being very fun.

Not only was it like 90 effing degrees and I felt like I was dying, but Yankee was very off his game and both of us were puzzled and frustrated.

Jackie showed in 4 classes, Eq. over fences and Jumper Tables I-III. 

He was superb in the Eq. class (which we did just as a warm-up) but she ended up in last place. I LITERALLY have no idea how. Not only did she have the nicest looking course out there-collected, got her leads, balanced, good position- but every other person tore around the course like it was a jumper class. And it looked AWFUL! I was pretty disappointed at the judge for that one. I even requested the score sheet and I had NO clue how she placed the class...whatevs.

In Jumper Table I-2'3 div. they got first, only double clear round!

He looked a little strange but of no real concern. Reminded Jackie to keep him in front of her leg.

Jumper Table II-2'6 they knocked a rail, so they got second. 

This was when he started acting seriously weird....I pressed the issue of keeping him engaged and packaging before the fences, but it looked like she kept dropping him...or something. I was getting seriously annoyed she wasn't listening to me. She knows how to ride this horse. Now WHY isn't she??

Jumper table III-3'3 Eliminated.

SAY WHAT THE FU?

One of the better fences in Table III

He knocked the first rail. Refused the second fence 2 times. Refused the 3rd fence. Refused the 4th. Then knocked it down. At that point I asked the judge if we could just school the course at a lower height.

Still not much better. He refused a lot. And quivered if he took it. 

SERIOUSLY WEIRD. And embarrassing. I was getting tons of compliments on him for his sexy ass (Yes, one old lady really said that) and smooth gaits. I kept assuring them that it'd be cool to watch him in the III div. and that yes, OTTBs really can be successful in new careers.

Insert foot into mouth.

Never in his life has he refused jumps. Ever. EVVVVEEERRRRR.

Jackie was upset. I was perplexed and still annoyed at what I thought was her riding. Yankee looked....depressed.

Jackies ' I'm only pretending to be happy/ I hate everything face'

At the end of the day, we satiated our ribbon whore tendencies...but  needed to get to the bottom of the issue.

Luckily I took videos. And watched them. And concluded ot was definitely Yankee and NOT Jackie's riding. 

I have a tendency to focus on my horse when she is riding him, and not really her riding. So obviously it thought it was her, because Yanks always attacks fences.

Jackie and I were mulling over possibilities of why he decided jumping was not on his to-do list for the day.

1. muscle soreness from jump schooling 2 days previous

2. cuts on the insides of BOTH legs (previous injuries) bothering him
3. The slick footing (he has massive issues with footing. Must be perfect)
4. saddle no longer fits because of all the new muscle he's gained
5. hot as hell outside

6. tail still bothering him (that fungus hasn't cleared yet)

I'm sure there were more reasons...but I can't remember right meow.

We've probably talked about his performance with each other for a total of like 3.5 hours cumulatively in the 3 days we gave him off to recoup.

Today (Wednesday) Jackie rode him again. Same tack, different boots and in an arena. She kept the jumps at 2'6, easy for him and rode him like she always does.

He was still quite "off" his game.

He refused once, then everytime after he threw in a little stutter step/hesitation.

I really cannot figure this out. He went from being a super-pony, to seemingly hating jumping..

I've made the executive decision to give him at least a week off jumping and do lots of hack works and a few dressage schools.

Until then, hopefully we can figure out this little setback before Queeny Park HT on June 7-8

Copycat!

Teaser #1

Teaser #2

HAHAHAHA suck it blogger! I figured it out. Until I gather thoughts and finish my last final (Thursday), one more procrastination attempt has been made...

...And I SWEAR on my LIFE I did not copy Eventer79 and TFS!! Great minds think alike?

Notice anything different about le blog?

Well, I sort of renamed it a bit.

And created a FB page.

Come like us. We are comment whores. We need attention. LOVE ME!! AHHHH!

Ok, I'm better now.

Strip Tease

Ok No clothes are coming off, but I will give you slight teaser of a future post to tantalize you into the wonderous world of Yankee the OTTB and his superpowers AND faults along with his trusty humans, Jackie and Monica. Join the chronicled adventure that is to come...

 It has to do with a mini Yankee Puissiance AND A horse show  that we entered this weekend....dun dun dun!

I would post pictures but blogger absolutely REFUSES and I am about to chuck my M'FN computer out the god damn window. WHYY??

What The Friday

Kentucky Derby is Saturday, which leads me to beliebe why Vanity Fair felt the need to shoot this abomination...

GAG ME times 100, 098, 890.

Like seriously???

When I first saw this, I was even more pissed off because I thought this was just a model. Models posing wiht horses legit grind my gears because generally they know nothing about horses. Just seriously.

Then I found out this was Chantal Sutherland, one of the most badass woman jockeys out there. She has made a fortune doing what she does best, and she DOES ride well and win doing it.

But come ON? That picture is legitimately a sell-out and absurd. I just can't even....

 And NO, my opinion has nothing  to do with her bangin' body. I have one of my own, so that doesn't really matter to me. Well, the fact that she is naked...riding a horse in a hotel...does. And quite a few other reasons.