Lazy, Lazy, Lazy.

Not sure if I'm just worried about the upcoming show this weekend or I just subconsciously know I really need a break as I've been avoiding serious ring work like the plague.

Instead I've been hitting the trails with some fellow boarders to just sit back and relax. We do some walk/trot/canter along different areas of the trails so it's no biggie there. I'm wondering if I'm souring myself to all these things.
I'm looking into buying a western saddle to just dink around in and not have to obsess over position.

It could very well be detrimental to our overall work but I feel like we just need that mental break. Likely tomorrow we'll hop back into our english saddle and we'll work on the necessities as well as our boldness to jumps.
Our issue is that moment of hesitation that can give Symbah that window of opportunity to refuse and I'm getting fustrated with it. I can only afford/have so much coaching for this situation. I just hate riding so aggressively with spurs and a crop - but sometimes I wonder if it's a necessary evil if used only until this issue is taken care of? Hmm, food for thought.

I'm not nervous for the 2'6-2'9 aspects of the Fair show on sunday, but the two 3'0 divisions I've entered in. We've never shown at that height but there's no oppotunities previously for us either to practise until we showed on the Trillium or A circuit which is waaay out of my budget. My theory is that those 2 classes are further in the day, Symbah will have known his courses, seen the jumps and be in the zone for the 3'0". That's my theory.

But then I have to realize we have warm up in the AM. Then our first course starts. Then the second. Then a flat. Then one 3'0 class. Then the other 3'0, then the final flat IF we make it through that course round to pin (it's equitation).
Is it too much? I don't know, after a course he feels like he could go on and on forever. I guess I'll have to feel him out and pull him from some classes if he's not up for this challenge. There's no point making him sour over some ribbons.

Uhm, updates all around!

Yeah, I officially suck at this updating thing.

No biggie. Tons to talk about though and tons of change!

Symbah's part-boarder went to the show I mentioned. They did great, he packed her around and they pinned. It was so long ago I don't remember what they pinned! Soon after that Symbah magically went lame again which seemed to happen when my barn owner used him in lessons. End the part-boarding, and begin my serious fustration. Eventually things finally boiled to the breaking point in April and I have enough of my barn owner and all things related.

Ontop of that, the new horse I mentioned, Diesel, was given to a local horse rescue to be a pasture ornament because he was borderline batcrap crazy. I don't know if he was mishandled or just a very flighty/explosive horse. But he was too much for 90% of the horse owner population and I genuinely think he had a screw loose. Broke a trainer's finger and nearly took down two other people in his panics. Great pasture ornament though.

Anyways.
I had enough of my barn owner and ended up moving to a quieter facility. Symbah gets to live outdoor 24/7 on 30 acres of delicious grass and I don't have to be worried about drama or people saying things behind my back. What a relief! And Symbah has been more happy and more energetic since being at this place on just grass, than at the old farm on hay and grain. Hmm.

Also finally found THE perfect farrier. He's great with Symbah and knows what he's doing. My previous farrier (also the old barn owner) nearly ruined Symbah's hooves and legs from her bad trimming. Long toes and long heels (that gave the appearance of being under-slung). If it wasn't for a message board I was on, I would've blissfully thought my old BO knew what she was doing. But now his feet are shaping up nicely and you can TELL he's feeling better. He's definately moving better that's for sure.

Aaaanyways.
Fast forward some time. I showed Symbah at Hamilton Hunt in May and June. We just did the 2'6" Green Hunters. Still technically his second year so it counts. He was faaaabulous and we came home reserve champion both times. Super star!













Then we switched over to the Ancaster Saddle Club shows for July and August. We did the Open 2'6-2'9" division. Our July show was a bit rocky, but he was wonderful for the August show. Had an oopsie on the second course (too much of an angle so the jump popped outta nowhere - and I forgot a part of the course). Nevertheless, he was very good especially in the pouring rain.

(Photo credit goes to Holly Varey)

OH! Have I mentioned it's been my lifelong dream to show at the Royal Winter Fair? I did now. However that is waaaay out of my abilities but I got the chance to do the next best thing.. I showed at the Canadian National Exhibition. Same show venue, but jumpers. Our first attempt ever!

..We sucked, obviously. Haha. Bright jumps and Symbah do not mesh well and for the first time in a long time, I got very nervous in the ring. I didn't set him up good enough and I didn't follow through when I felt him balking. However, he did take everything in stride. He had no issues with the warm up rings, being stabled somewhere new, multiple rides per day, walking up the massive ramps, the coliseum, etc. He just wasn't ready for the jumper fences. BUT we did get over one blue oxer which is pretty significant to us. Symbah seems to balk at blue things and I have issues with oxers. So again, aside from not completing a course, he was a superstar. I'm hoping to go back next year and be some real competition! I'm hooked!

Also on that excursion I found a new great coach who's been helping me. I've had the benefit of both this coach and my current barn owner (also a coach) to catch my issues. It was quite a learning experience.

So fast forward to now. I'm going to be showing at the Ancaster Fair this upcoming sunday. I'm excited but a bit nervous. We'll be making our debut in the 3' Handy Hunters and the 3' Equitation. Then from there I'll once again hit the Rockton World's Fair but this time to compete in the division I originally wanted to do last year. And, I've also entered in the 2'9-3'0 jumpers just as a trial ride. It's a cheap class I figure we might as well make an effort and see what the outcome is.

So in this final chapter I'll conclude with our most recent success. Since leaving the previous barn I've gained confidence in leaps and bounds. It helps when there aren't people around to criticize or insult you!

We've been schooling 3'0-3'3" quite confidently now and have even jumped up to 3'9" without fear. It's been such a relief to feel confidence towards a jump.


And because of our huge improvements this winter, I'm moving facilities so I can continue to ride and school him during our great canadian winter. Fear not, it's only from November - April as the current farm doesn't have an indoor arena so my riding would be non-existant. And it'd be a waste.. to waste Symbah for 5 months then struggle to get him into shape again. We're also going to try and break out into the jumpers this winter as well and hopefully by the time the CNE rolls around again we'll be a lean mean jumper machine! ;D

Anyways, I apologize for any typos or incoherent sentences, it's 4AM but I really wanted to update this for anyone that reads it.
Fingers crossed I can keep remembering to update things on atleast a weekly/bi-weekly basis.

No guarantees.

Hang my head in shame!

Forgive me for not updating.

We never did end up showing at the last Ancaster show. We did, however, show at the Rockton World's Fair in October. I should've known it wasn't going to be a great day when we were late due to one horse refusing to trailer. So late I wouldn't have had time to even warm up for my division. So I backed out of that one and entered the Children's division (I'm 18, it's 18 and under). The arenas were mucky due to rain and while the soupy arenas at the Ancaster Fair Grounds were one thing.. this was a whole new kind of mud. We were not pleased.
We rushed for warm up but succeeded. I also had convinced a gutsy friend to take Symbah in the 2'9" jumpers (I can hear the laughter now).

I'll try to shorten this story up.

I was ditched at the fairgrounds while my barn owner left to pick up the other horse (the one who refused to trailer). I had on horse in one hand, and my puppy in the other hand. Talk about unimpressed on all parts! Thankfully another barn was nice enough to allow me to tie poor Symbah to the trailer while I got myself organized. This was a barn I had previously boarded at and had some serious issues/drama with. However, they put all that behind them and helped me when I really needed it. Talk about eating a slice of humble pie!

Symbah was great in warm-ups for both myself and the friend. Barn owner later returned with the mare, and I was ignored while they scrambled to get the horse ready. Eventually, the mare pulled a naughty move and dumped the rider into a cement barrier. Needless to say, she wouldn't be competing. So the horse's owner hopped on to school the mare, however, she borrowed my helmet because she didn't bring one.

Not an issue as she said she'd just be schooling for a few minutes.

Until they were calling all riders for my class and when I ran to grab my helmet, I found out that the girl whom I had lended my helmet to was showing the mare. I didn't have time and missed out on my only flat class. That was upsetting as there is prize money if you pin. I was in full panic mode as they started having horses jump their courses - and I still didn't have a helmet. Once again the other barn stepped up and let me borrow one of their helmets - talk about eating that pie again!

We ended up placing 5th in the 2'6" class, but had one refusal at a big scary pumpkin jump in the 2'9" class. Ontop of that, Mr.Symbah had become pissy with the crap footing and ended up tossing my friend during their jumper round.

It was definately not a good day.

Fast forward through the months as I decided to give Symbah some time off showing to prevent any sourness. We were going great in our training until I used a different farrier and poor Symbah was crippled for a bit over 2 weeks. We had a gradual recovery but we were able to make it for a show at Blacks Equine Centre on January 17th. Unfortunately, our truck broke down so we were late arriving and couldn't get a warm-up. So we paid to enter Sym in one 2' over fences class as the warm-up. Last year we showed the 2' division, but this year we finally graduated to 2'6". Well, Symbah was (of course) great! We received a 2nd place in the 2' class, a 6th place in the 2'6 under saddle class and a 6th in the 2'6" Stakes O/F. He was great!

A friend also competed him in the hack division and came out with three 4ths, and one 6th.

Great day!

Symbah does have a part-boarder now as I'm finding myself drifting away from him. Instead of hopping on and having a fight, I often choose not to ride him at all and just allow the part-boarder to. Or my coach will use him in the occasional lesson. He's still my forever horse and nothing will ever change that, but past experiences have proven that it's wiser to avoid the fights. I did ride him a few days ago and he was phenominal. We were both so relaxed and did a mini course of 2'6"-2'9" with great flying changes (which had always been difficult to teach him). I even included some rollbacks and he was in heaven, flying swaps and jumping fences on an almost sideways angle - and fiesty! I'm happy my last ride was like that, it really put me in a better spirit.

The part-boarder is going to her first off-property show with Symbah this sunday. I'm a little disappointed I'll be out of the country that weekend but I'm excited for them. She's a bit nervous but there's no reason. He's been there, done that and is such a great packer for novice riders (under 2'6"). She'll only be taking him in the 2' division but I'm excited for what the results will be when I return.

I'm going to try and keep this more updated as I go along. I have a new gelding I'm working with now, named Diesel, that's taking up quite a bit of my time too. But I did create a blog on his progress as well so it'll motivate me to update this with news as it pops up.