Pretty Is As Pretty Does

Years ago (many, many years ago) I read an article in the Chronicle entitled "Pretty Is As Pretty Does". It was written by a Pony Confirmation Hunter judge who was concerned about the ponies being bred for confirmation and movement but not necessarily temperament. This judge was seeing a lot of beautiful ponies on the line, but many (not all) were just rank and ill behaved under saddle. Hence the title.

I've carried that phrase with me over the years because I found that it applies to a lot in everyday life - human and horse. But I am especially finding it applicable now that Molly has really gotten into riding. I'll be the first to raise my hand - our pony can be a BEAST! She can also be absolutely spectacular. It's a matter of setting limits and ground rules. I have to admit, she is really pretty easy and does have a wonderful temperament - however, she is a pony - she is ridden by a child - she will try to take advantage of a situation given the opportunity.

Today was another show day for us. It was a local show so we did not have a crack of dawn morning. It was raining when we got to the barn, but by the time we got to the show, it had stopped and stayed dry for the rest of the day.

As we were getting Treenie wrapped in the AM, I noticed that she was shivering - not all over, just her hind end. She was covered and felt warm under her sheet. The temp had gone down about 20 degrees from earlier in the week so it was a bit understandable. However, like I said, she felt warm underneath so I began to wonder if she was just anxious (do horses get nervous in anticipation??) I did not want to alarm Molly so I quietly brought it to her trainer's attention who was not worried and told me to make sure I brought another blanket just in case. Treener's seemed eager to go and walked right up the ramp into the van - she practically self loads!

The ride to the show was uneventful - we actually left 12 minutes ahead of schedule -unfortunately, my friend Michelle had planned to drive with us (I misunderstood) and we left without her! And, I did not hit the guard rail crossing the bridge at the end of our street (I did this with the barn owners trailer taking my horse to the clinic. It was really not a big deal but I was mortified!) This is why I like my van - it's all 1 piece!!

Anyway, ho hum - got to the show, checked in and began to get ready - they actually were running on time! I had heard horror stories about last year and how behind they were because of conflicts. Treenie came down the ramp, took a look around and you could almost see her immediately settle in - "Oh, I know where I am - all's cool!" I think she used to show at this show a lot with her old owner so she must have felt at home.

In the warm up ring she marched around like a carousel horse - any direction - with traffic, against traffic across the center - didn't matter. Both Treenie and Molly were just really together and content. It was a really NICE picture. Treenie was so mellow that Molly even cantered in the warm up ring. Since the Mini's do not canter, I don't ask for this if Treenie has her "she devil" look in her eye. She is actually a little better after she canters, so it's good if she can, but not worth risking getting taken off with. Also, no stick needed today.

Things were clicking right on schedule until the Pleasure division - can you believe that they actually held a schooling break before the xc pleasure class because it had 2 cross rails??? The same 2 cross rails that these horses just jumped in the division before - Give me a break! Okay Molly, jump down this is going to take a while! We hung out for a while until the FINALLY pinned the class.

We walked to the ring as they were calling the division - it seemed like mini stirrup kids started coming out of the woodwork! It was really like watching ants get flushed out of their hill. There were 16 mini's. I'm looking at my friends saying - they're going to have to split this - there is no way these kids can stay out of each other's way. Thankfully, they did - they lined everyone up and randomly picked numbers to make 2 divisions of 8 each. Phew! That's better. Of course, Molly winds up in the B group which means another 30-45 minuted before she goes.

So we hung out some more, took some pix and both Molly and Treenie had a potty break (better now than in the ring!)

FINALLY it was Molly's turn. (And I'm getting to the reason for the title) She went in and immediately started to trot around so Miss Treenie could see all the sights. I was really proud that she was all business. Treenie was practically a push button pony! They looked great, rode great and were a really a nice overall picture. Treenie was a Very Pretty Pony!

Schooling for the cross rail class was a little tricky as Treenie LOVES to follow other horses - she pulled Molly down the lines a few times but she did go to all the jumps and never tried to duck out. When it was their turn I told Molly t0 pick a plan ans stick with it (either trot in and canter out both lines or trot the whole thing - trotting is my preference because 1) that is what a mini is technically supposed to do and 2) it give Molly a little more time to react if something goes awry) .

To my HUGE surprise, she trotted in and trotted out both lines AND got her diagonals in between the jumps! Woo Hoo! She's really getting it! It was a really nice, respectable round.

In the end, Molly was 4th in all 3 of the flat classes and 5th in the over fences class. Not too bad for her second show. AND, she did not lose any teeth this time!

See, pretty really is as pretty does!

Dressage Day

We've finally had our run of nice weather here - days in the mid to upper 70's. It got a little warm fast, but I'll take it over the gray raw days we've had.

Tim wanted to play soccer this spring, so I convinced Tom and that this was a "boy" thing and that he should be responsible for taking Tim for the next 7 Saturdays (I was NOT going to be schlepping to soccer on Saturdays - I do it all week and am done by the weekends). However, this has given me an opportunity to take Molly to ride without having to drag Tim along so off we went.

Now, I was not riding when I was 8. I didn't start until I was like 11 or 12 and I got my first when I was 14, but I do remember wanting to jump like ALL the time. Fortunately, my trainer (yes, the very one I took Molly to a few weeks ago) was very disciplined with flatwork and made it VERY clear that it was not good for the horse to jump every time I rode - I needed to work on my flatwork more. As I think about it now, it is a lot like to guys who spend their time at the driving range - how many times do you need your driver on a golf course? 18 - and sometimes not even that many (I used to play 75% of my game with a 5 iron). The game of golf is really played in the short game with the irons and putter - The same with riding - if your flatwork is correct, the fences should fall into place.

With flatwork in mind (and an incentive to make it interesting) I decided that Molly should start practicing her dressage tests. Because we are at a Hunter/Jumper barn, there is really no clear flat place to practice tests. Our ring is full of jumps and our indoor now has 2 temp stalls in the middle (making "down center line" and impossibility). I rode my horse on a nice grassy area next to the barn - there is no fencing or boundaries, but for me it's not an issue. I wasn't sure what Treenie would think of this though - she can clearly see her paddock and her "mares". Since this area is adjacent to the parking area, it is raised and has about a 2 foot retaining wall. I did have a little reservation of Treenie just jumping down to the gravel and taking off to the paddock. Molly is really riding well on the flat and taking off never even occurred to Treenie. She did look really good, but I kept telling Molly to keep her bent to the inside so she had to pay attention to Molly and not the mares - that seemed to work.

Walking and trotting turned out to be a non issue and I was glad for Molly to learn that she could ride in yet another place trouble free. I hopped down and got our dressage markers from the truck and set them up. Molly did a few dressage shows last year on my horse - it was VERY cute because it looked like a peanut on an elephant. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to retain much over the winter. So, I had to go over again, all the little "dressage do's and don'ts"

1. Do ride around the outside of the ring until the judge rings the bell

2. Do Not go into the ring until the judge rings the bell

(In an 8 year old mind, these two are mutually exclusive so you MUST say both)

3. Down Center line means "straight" down center line, not meandering left and right.

4. Salute is with your right hand

5. Go into ALL of your corners!

6. ETC

Some things were better than others, and frankly, for the first try this year it wasn't too bad - EXCEPT for the attitude! Miss Molly has never done this on Treenie - Miss Molly had forgotten how to make nice straight lines and even circles but, when I would tell her that a line was too crooked or a circle not correctly shaped and to do it again, she says "NO, it's fine". I was dumbfounded! I NEVER told my trainer "no". (Okay, I did recently, but I'm in my 40's!) It is the first time in a very long time that Know it All Molly has been outright defiant. Needless to say, I made her stop immediately and explained exactly how things work when Mom is paying all the bills. Plus, I'm a dressage rider! I've been riding for over 30 years! I think I know what I'm doing (and when to ask for help!). She wasn't too happy, but finally decided to see thing my way. We ran through the test again and called it a day - she stripped Treenie's saddle and rode her bareback for a while.

So that was our Saturday. My horse is 1/2 leased to a wonderful girl who has great dressage goals this year. I'm hoping that both Molly and Michelle will go to some dressage shows together - watch out for the M & M's!

Oh, and I thought this was really cute - Tim actually asked to ride this week...

Sit Up and Steer!

Wednesday is lesson day - sometimes it is Thursday, but it is usually Wednesday. It is an especially good lesson day when Molly's to best barn buds K and S are there also. Today the three musketeers were together.

Lesson days are a little hectic - Molly gets off the bus at 3:15 and we REALLY need to leave by 3:30 in order for her to get Treeners out of the field and tacked up on time - we're usually late but so it everyone else. The bottom line is that 4pm really doesn't work for us. In fact, K gets taken out of school early in order to get there somewhat on time. However, that seems to be the only slot they have available for us - it used to be a 4:30 slot, but over the winter it changed and now we really have to hustle to make it work. Unfortunately, neither of my kids are good about hustling... Tim ALWAYS takes off his shoes and loses one just as Molly walks in the door from school. Molly, needs to rifle through her drawers to look for the one pair of breeches that are usually in the wash - she has like 6 pair, but the ones she wants each week (and it differs from week to week) are the ones that are NOT in her drawer. So, she has no choice but to throw all of the breeches on the floor - yell at me that she can't find the ones she wants and then watch TV until I start yelling that we're late - Meanwhile, Tim starts yelling that he's not going to the "stupid barn" because he's watching something and is not going to miss it - Calgon - take me away!

Once we get there, things are much more mellow - we need to tack up quick, but I'm pretty good with that and Molly and I seem to be able to work off of each other. Hopefully, Tim stays in the car and watches a DVD. At 5, he really has not interest nor sense around horses and just doesn't get it that he has to be careful.

Finally, everyone is up and the lesson starts - I can breathe again. Just writing this has made my chest tighten with the stress!

Since some of the shows with mini stirrup ask you to actually jump a course (4 jumps usually once around the outside), Molly is doing regular courses in her lessons - today she did diagonal, diagonal, outside, outside. 8 jumps in total. That's a lot to put together when you have only been jumping for a few months - all winter it was really only single jumps because our indoor is a little small. So, 8 jumps in a row in a big ring is a big accomplishment. Treenie is not the most honest pony in the world either - you absolutely MUST sit up and steer - if you hang out in your 2-point and loop the reins you can bet she'll duck out. I've seen this enough times that I can pretty much tell 3 strides out if she's going to jump or run out. Molly too will figure this out some day - we all keep telling her to "sit up and steer!" but it seems to fall on deaf ears. I'm afraid she is going to have to learn by hitting the ground a few times. Right now, she thinks she is too cool because she can get over these jumps - it make take several attempts, but she does get over them. It would be nice if she got over them on the FIRST try. Miss Treenie can really jump when she wants to - actually, once she gets going she is a very cute little jumper ...

We all laughed today because we thought she may also have a future in the pony jumpers...

Amazingly, Molly seems to have a natural ability to stick to her back even when she jumps huge. Wish I had that same ability - oh to be 8 and fearless again....

Horse Show - Check!

Because this blog is primarily about my daughter, I have been very evasive about where we live - call it maternal instinct, but with the Internet and kids, the less info the better. However, I will say that we live on the East Coast - and spring has been SLOW to come.

I really needed it to be spring because our pony definitely needed to be clipped before we could take her anywhere. I really could not ethically clip her when the temperatures was only reaching the 40's during the day. Even with extra blankets, I thought that would just be mean. So I had been holding off hoping for some warm weather. I knew I needed at least 2 weeks between the clip and the show because frankly, I'm not the best body clipper in the world. I'm too impatient and anxious to just get it done. As a result, I end up with a lot of unsightly clip lines. I know the secret to a good clip is slow small strokes, but I just can't make myself do that - therefore I needed some time for it to even itself out.

Fortunately the temps slowly started to climb and we had some really nice days - enough to reassure me that the "winter" was finally over. So about 2 weeks ago I spent the day clipping our little hairy beast. It was very rewarding because she really looks great. I also got the bright idea that I should take Molly and the pony somewhere off the farm for a school. I'm really lucky that my old hunter trainer is also a very good friend. I called her and set up a lesson for Molly down at her farm. It was a good confidence builder for Molly to know that she could ride Treenie in different places. Molly rode great and Treenie was perfect. They were REALLY ready to horseshow.

Now, I'm not sure if this is just me, or if every Mom has this issue - over scheduling. It seems like we can go for weeks with nothing to do and then all of a sudden, we have like 5 things to do in the same weekend. What's up with that??? The horse show has been scheduled for weeks. Wouldn't you know - Molly's school Talent Show is the Friday night before AND Brownie Camporee is the Sat and Sun. Okay, I can somehow fit all this in - schedule a lesson for Thursday, talent show Friday. Drop Molly off at 7 AM Sat for Camporee. Bathe/Braid pony & pack for show Sat afternoon. Leave house at 7 AM Sun to pick Molly up from Campoee (1 hour away each direction) get back to barn to pack up pony and head to show by 11 AM. Thank God the mini's did not start until after 2pm!!

As it turned out, the mini's started around 3pm. We were there by 1pm so Molly had plenty of time to school and get organized. Treenie seems to like going places so she is great to load and travels well.

Schooling was typical hunter show schooling - for those of you that do not know what this means close your eyes and picture this....

1. A ring about 1500 sq feet

2. Anywhere from 10-25 horses and ponies in at the same time all doing different things - walking, trotting cantering, in all different directions, circling and changing directions.

3. Add in horses that are jumping the fences in all different directions

4. Every one's trainer yelling instructions to their individual students.

Now, imagine that you are 8 years old riding one of the smallest ponies in the ring. Pretty intimidating - no?

Somehow, Molly was not at all phased by all the confusion - she stayed on the rail and trotted, circled on the ends of the ring if she had room. Treenie was a little fresh and Molly just kept her going until she settled. I was impressed. She even schooled her course in all of the commotion. I have to give her credit - Treenie was tough. She just didn't want to be "medium". She was either too quick and a little "runny" or sucking back and getting behind Molly's leg and popping over the jumps. Despite this, Molly still wanted to do the jump class.

The mini stirrups had 10 in the division!! That's huge - last year they had like 5 or 6 at each show - oh boy....

The first class was pleasure - Molly did and excellent job of keeping by herself, not getting boxed in and keeping her pace consistent. She was very "workmanlike" and did her best. She ended up 4th which I thought was quite good.

The next class was equitation - of course, there was the one kid who really wasn't in control riding the pony who would take advantage of the situation. Actually this was the same kid who in the first class fell off 3 times!! Her pony would just slam on the brakes and yank his head down to eat the grass on the outside of the ring. The poor judge helped her get back on the last time and told her to cut of the side of the ring near the grass so he wouldn't do that again! Every time she fell off they had to stop the class to get her back on - Molly even said - "Mom, she's fallen off 3 times already - why doesn't she just leave?"

So, in the next class, this pony starts to canter after they reversed direction - not running away, just cantering - looked quite comfortable actually. However, this kid had no control - her reins were too long, she was flopping all over and totally unable to steer effectively. So poorly was she riding that while trying to circle she pointed the pony toward the outside line of jumps - IN THE WRONG DIRECTION - and proceeded to jump the line before she could stop. Of course, they had stopped the other riders while trying to get this kid under control - I could see Molly just sitting on Treenie rolling her eyes - what can I say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! After all the excitement, they ended that class by just having the other 9 kids line up - quit while they were ahead I guess. Molly ended up 5th in that one.

The figure 8 class was relatively uneventful - of course there were some that were clearly better than others, but no one was run away with or went in the wrong direction (darn - no more excitement!). Molly's figure 8 was nearly perfect except that she forgot to change her diagonal when she changed direction. Hello?? What is the the whole point of this particular class? Oh well at least the circles were really good.

Finally over fences class - mini stirrup over fence classes are different at every show - some shows have you only jump 2 jumps, some 4 jumps, you never know until you get there. So, this show was 4 jumps - once around the outside. Treenie was not as good as she had been - she had a look in her eye like "give me the chance and I am taking off!" I really wanted Molly to trot in and trot out of the lines - cantering was only going to lead to problems I thought. So, what does Molly do? Nice opening courtesy circle, trots up to the 1st fence and proceeds to canter down the line - jumps the second fence big and Molly's gets left, then bounced forward. Treenie pops her head up and smacks Molly in the face - knocking out one of her loose teeth! Molly didn't know what to do with her tooth - she didn't want to drop it so she just came out of the ring. All the practicing, schooling and discussions we had about this show - but no contingency plan for loosing a tooth! How could I have forgotten to plan for that?? Ugh!!!

So that was our day - I found a short cut home - yeah! and was home and unpacked with no further drama. It's back to lessons, lessons, lessons until our next show in 2 weeks!! I'll have to make sure she doesn't have any more loose teeth for the next one.

Bad Pony!

Okay, so Treenie was basically the boss in this relationship for the first year we had her. However, with the help of her wonderful and encouraging trainer, Molly was slowly started to win some of the battles. "Don't let her win Molly - you can do it!" was a phrase we heard often. Keep in mind, that poor Molly was probably all of 45 lbs at the time! Of course, just as things were starting to come together, it was time to mix things up - the weather changed and we could go outside again.

The first trip was just that - a trip. Molly mounted inside, and proceeded to walk out the door with the rest of the others in the group. Miss Treenie began to walk toward the ring and realized that her paddock was just a bit beyond - "See Ya' I'm going back to my paddock" and off she trotted with Molly yelling the whole way while trying to stop her. Fortunately, her pony groom (aka ME) was there to retireve her and drag her back INTO the ring.

The first several lessons seemed to put them back to square one - unless Treenie could follow another horse around the ring, she pretty much decided that she would just take Molly wherever Treenie wanted to go. Molly was nothing more than another annoying fly on her back. At this point I was really starting to second guess this decision - was this the right pony? Will Molly ever be able to sort this out? The problem with a small pony is there are a limited number of people who can ride her - hence our problems. Fortunately, we have a great adult rider who is quite petite and she was able to get on for a few schools - of course, Treenie was great for her but the same old as soon as Molly would ride her.

The turning point came during a lesson - Treenie has just decided that she was going to stop and try to turn toward the rail. Molly was coached through the stopping and told to shorten her reins and pull Treenie's head to the inside. As she did that, Treenie jerked her head down and pulled Molly in front of the saddle then in a split second she spun and dumped Molly - scaring her to death. We had never fallen off before so our ego was more hurt than anything fortunately. However, momma bear absolutely did not like what she just saw. Pony tricks are one thing - being dirty and nasty (which this clearly was) is absolutely not tolerable! Molly did get back on and make the little she devil trot around the ring before she gave up for the day - good for her - no treats for pony!

Of course, I am driving home thinking - Molly needs more leverage - she can't win this battle alone - clearly the grazing reins which we had been using were not enough. We were already in a double twisted wire so that option was pretty much exhausted also. I had to come up with something....and then it hit me. I was on the phone to Beval's the next day - Hello, do you have a pony size "tack noseband"? Of course, they were out of the tack nosebands but did have a chain one - okay, better than nothing and it was reasonably priced! I'll take it and you better send me a standing martingale too!

Okay, here come the big guns - anti grazing reins so she can't pull her head down, standing martingale so she can't throw her head up - chain noseband so she feels some pull and punishes herself if she tosses her head. It took Treenie all of 10 minutes to figure out that the party was over. She flipped her nose 1 time and realized that it wasn't worth the fight. Low and behold, that pony CAN walk, trot and canter around the ring, circle through the middle AND change direction when asked. She does know how to listen - she actually is the nice pony I thought I bought!

We kept her accoutrement (I LOVE that word) on for the rest of the summer and into the fall. Everything was working and Molly was riding well and gaining confidence - why mess with it. As the lesson moved back indoors and there were not other issues arising, I decided to take off the grazing reins. Molly was mortified - NO! I NEED THEM! she would argue with me. Finally, I told her to just get over it and took them off - guess what no problems! A month or so later I removed the martingale - you can't use a martigale in the flat classes, so we needed to see how things would go - again - no problems! The noseband will stay - Molly needs that extra leverage that it gives her and I don't want Miss Treenie to realize that she is now naked.

So, the winter has gone by, Molly has ridden consistently and improved immensely. Her position look great, she's in control and she's confident. She's ready to horseshow...oh wait - our pony is on turnout board - although she is blanketed, she looks like a hairy beast. No one will be able to tell if Molly is riding a pony or a sheepdog. Okay, need a plan.....

How Did We End Up Here?

This blog is about my daughter - Molly who is almost 9 years old. Somehow, in a moment of delusion, I decided that she needed a pony. I've been riding for over 25 years and have owned, leased, borrowed many horses in my time so I kind of knew what I was getting into. I currently have my own horse and compete quite frequently. OK, I really did know what I was getting into, but somehow I think I was sticking my head in the sand. Anyway, in November 2006, I bought Molly her pony. Treenie is a cute 15 year old pony mutt - her coggins say POA but I think there is some Shetland in her. We knew the pony because Molly used to take lessons on her - I knew she was safe and that was the most important factor in the decision.

When we got Treenie, Molly was just starting to figure out posting - her balance was not perfect and her timing was not quite there. However, as I said - Treenie was safe and I could always put Molly on the lunge line.

The first year was tough - At the time we were boarding at a barn about 40 min from our home. I would go out to ride my horse after the kids went to school and then go back to take Molly to ride. That did not last very long as it got to be a drag. As a result, I started taking Molly only on the weekends - that posed a problem with the hubby who said "I'm not a babysitter". - Funny, I can "babysit" kids all day though and foolish me - I though it was "parenting"! Okay, so this isn't working out either - plus I now had 2 horses on full board - OUCH!! Finally I got my act together and found a great barn for the pony near our home. I moved her in January of 2007.

Advantages - 1. Molly could go out and ride several times a week 2. They would take Treenie on turn out board for 1/2 the price I was paying at the other place 3. The instruction and people seemed really nice.

Disadvantages - Oh yeah - there weren't any!

Okay, so now I had a workable solution except it was kind of a crummy winter so Molly really did not ride consistently. As a result, Miss Treenie got a little spoiled and started getting a little piggy - dragging Molly into the center of the ring - trying to drag her out of the ring etc - you know - typical pony stuff. Fortunately, Molly stuck it out and things got better - until the spring when lessons went from the indoor to the outdoor -

Stay tuned for rest of this wild ride...