Can I Help You?

This is what we see when we go out to get our pony every day! I had seen these fly masks on the web and thought they were really cute, but they were really expensive. I immediately thought - hey, I can do that! So I picked up a cute pony size fly mask and some cool colored permament markers and let Molly go to town with her design. She was really excited to do it and it is kind of cute - especially with the pink floppy ears! By pure luck, we managed to get the "glasses" right where Miss Treener's eyes are.

Molly showed again this past weekend - it was our local hunter show. Because of the holiday weekend, I really did not know what to expect as far as turnout - well, I guess the "staycation" theme has caught on because the show was packed! I could hardly find a spot to park our van and unload! The classes were huge and as a result, many of the divisions were split into 2 sections. It seems like they split the mini's by age as Molly was again in the B section. The first group of kids seemed young compared to Molly's group and they only had 7 kids while Molly's group had 9. Also, all the kids in Molly's group were pretty much at the same skill level. I have to say, it was good company this weekend because the kids were all competent mini riders. Once she finally got going, the classes ran pretty quickly - Molly was 3rd in the Eq, 4th in the pleasure and 5th in the figure 8. For some reason, she just can't seem to get the figure 8 down - the shape was better but still not 100% - oh well, something to work on.

Molly also won her cross rail class! It is the 3rd jumping class in a row that she has won - it seems like we have figured out the secret formula for this class!

This is my first attempt to upload video - it is from the FOD show a few weeks ago - Molly won this class also. At least you can finally see some action!

Thursday is our local dressage series again - I was hoping to make a nice Mom/Daughter day of it as I was scheduled to ride my musical freestyle. Unfortunately, my horse slipped and has 8 stitches on his ankle! So I guess it's pony groom for me! I am sure that Molly will do well - if only she can figure out how to make ROUND circles!!

Quick Update

Sorry I have not written lately - It has been on my mind, but when I looked at our blog today I realized that our last post was May 31st!! Oh my - how rude!!!

Since the last post, we've been to 2 horse shows and 1 more XC schooling/trail ride. The first show was a very little, very casual dressage schooling show. Molly and her best barn bud K went together. I am totally hooked on making things with my computer, so I bought the HP T-shirt transfer kit and little white polo shirts and made the girls matching shirts with the farm logo. They looked very nice and put together for two little pony kids. The judge was overly nice and had a lot of compliments for both girls - they rode from the legs, had great positions and their trainer was doing a great job with them. She was also great with her criticism because she kept it constructive. She really was wonderful. Molly scored a 60 something and a 62 something in the intro A & B (I said the judge was really nice). This show was the first of a little series so we are adding it to our "quest for points". Last year Molly went to 2 of the shows with my horse and she was 5th overall at the year end (against all other adults!). I think she is off to a good start!

Next we went to the good old FOD show south of us - I have to say, knowing that the mini's do not start until 2pm makes planning your day SO much easier. We got there early and as usually met my mom and her friend Annette. They are becoming Molly's personal fan club. My best friend (horsey and non horsey) Ronnie cam with us also so we had quite an entourage. Molly warmed up with no problems - good thing Ronnie was there as I got a devastating call in the middle of the schooling that one of my friends has died suddenly - Ronnie was able to take over supervising the schooling while I made several calls to other friends.

There were about 7 in the classes - mostly the same kids that had been there all along and a few newcomers. Molly was 3rd in the pleasure, 2nd in the Eq, 5th in the Fig 8 and 1st in the crossrails. Overall she was reserve champion which totally made her day. My husband met us down there and picked up Molly - he was off to the beach for the week with the kids and I was officially on my own for the week!!

Last week, I Molly and I took our horses to another park that has some xc jumps - my horse is now completely recovered from his hip injury (as recovered as he is going to get anyway for a 20 yr old). He is jumping really well and seems so happy to be able to go out again - he was a children's hunter for most of his life but he LOVES to go cross country - this is one horse that totally missed his calling in life - I'm just glad I can let him have some fun in his golden years. Anyway, Molly was a little apprehensive - she is totally my daughter and does not like to push beyond her comfort zone. This park has no "warm up" rings, just open fields with big long rolling hills and some trails. So there was so "testing" period to see how Treenie would act (I knew she would be fine because it seems she to was destined to be an event horse!) - Anyway, we walked toward one trail, crossed a nice stream with no problems and off we went. We trotted on the trails, on the hills etc. I finally found the field I was looking for with the little logs and baby bank jump. Molly just foll wed me over everything - Treenie wasn't too sure about the bank down, but she did do it - twice! Then we cantered along the sides of some hay fields. As we were cantering we came up to a nice log - I yelled back that I was going to jump it - Molly said she was going to go around - the next thing I heard were little canter, canter, canter steps up and over behind me and Molly cantering up next to me. I looked at her and she had a big smile "it was just easier to jump it" she said.

Tomorrow we have another mini stirrup show - hopefully it does not pour on us! Will try to post some video next!