February 11th
This weekend was such a crazy blurr of horsey-fun! On Friday afternoon, the MSU hunt riders on the equestrian team headed out to Murfreesboro TN for an IHSA hunt show with me in tow. I was so eager to head out and experience my first IHSA show, and even more excited that I was able to ride while I was there! Since I'm not on the team, I'm unable to compete in the circuit; but, this may be a blessing in disguise because I was able to help the team in a different way by schooling MSU horses before the competition actually started (sorry for all of you non-horse folk that are having difficulties following along).
Basically, the 5 cent explanation of how IHSA works goes like this:
Colleges and Universities across America with hunt teams are split up into zones. Within these zones, there are competitions throughout the semester held at various schools where the team members compete in their appropriate divisions and earn points based on their placing in each class.
For each division, there is a set of horses that are chosen from the "stock" at various schools throughout the zone. Within each division, there are multiple classes (flat and jumping), for which each rider draws a horse. This is kind of like drawing a bull at a rodeo--but in a much safer way...usually. To me, this is quite bazaar, as I haven't heard of this in Canada.
Anyways, in the case of this show, MSU brought 5 horses from it's stock to put in the draw. We brought Happy, G, Thumper, Rapper, and Max to contribute, and many other horses were brought in from other schools to make up the show stock available for the various divisions at the show. Interestingly enough, if a horse from your school is in your divisions draw, you have a chance at riding a horse from your own university (talk about "luck of the draw").
That's my 4-1-1 on IHSA...if you want to know more there is a rulebook on the website :)
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Apparently I was ultra-anxious. Insomnia strikes at the most inconvenient times and left me tossing and turning until almost 4am...yay for 3 hours of sleep before a busy day!
Morning came early, and after a quick breakfast at the hotel, we embarked to the barns. First order of business was to school all the horses. This meant I had to take three horses through the courses before 8:30am. Yikes! Haven't felt the pressure of showing in too long-I was getting tooooo old for this! Putting my nerves in my back pocket, I got Thump, Happy, and G settled down enough to have successful rounds through the course for their riders. Did I mention I was getting too old for this? With groins aching from my lack of jumping strength, I hopped off and energetically said "what's next!?". Clearly at this point I was running on pure adrenaline and hot chocolate, because I sure as hell wasn't running on much sleep. The day is a little bit hazy now that I think about it-handling horses, warming up horses, cooling down horses, cheering for MSU, cleaning stalls, filling buckets. The usual horse show drill-but I was loving every minute of it! Here are some day one candid pics.
Overall the show day went well! The girls did MSU proud and I really enjoyed seeing their rounds-great job MSUET! As you can imagine, we were all ready to relax once the day was over...luckily we had time for a little lie-down before din. The dinner selection of choice was Red Robin! Again, this was a first time trip to a famous American chain, and after the long day I had I was definitely ready for a big burger and some bottomless fries (nom nom nom). Even though I got teased for getting a "bunless" burger (I'm used to it-right Alex Rode?!) I really enjoyed my extra spicy burger and extra/excessive helping of steak fries. I slept very well the second night, as you can imagine, and was well equipped for day 2.The second day was excellent! The horses were much quieter and less work to school, so less work for me! The show ran efficiently, and we were loaded and on the road by about 3:30...record time! The team did really great, and I had such an amazing time throughout my weekend with them. I really appreciate being able to share my horsey-love with the team :) here are some photos of G's schooling rounds with me aboard, thanks to Beth Jones!
If G suspiciously goes missing in May...you'll have to come up to Canada to get him back! I love me some G lovin', so come at me bro (insider)
Thanks for the great weekend ladies, and congrats to everyone on the team! You did so well :)
February 1st
I'm going to be updating this page with news about the horsey happenings around here! I'll separate blog posts with a line in between each, with the most recent on top :)
This week I've been trying to ride as much as possible, and as many different horses as possible to try and get back in riding shape and to get to know all the beasts! Also, I got invited to a horse show at MTSU next weekend (eeeeeeek!!), so I have to get back in the swing of things! I was able to ride quite a few days this week and last weekend despite the crazy Kentucky weather; it kept me busy, but also left me with some sore muscles and a hungry belly!
Here are some photos of the ones I rode this week.
First is Pete! He will be my project horse this semester, and the coach has asked that I design a program to get him going a little more steady. So far he has been great, and he is showing some great potential. Apparently, he has a habit of refusing at the jumps, so I'm going to really work on getting his flat work established to strengthen his hind and get him to stop planting his front feet! I think it will be fun, and so far we're getting along really well. I have decided to change the spelling of his name to "Peat"; mostly because he loves the mud...I also think it's a clever biology joke in reference to my favourite ecological system; Alberta peatlands!
Next up is Thumper, aka Old Faithful. It's so fantastic to ride horses that are broke! I forgot what it's like to ride a horse that knows what it's doing and was trained properly. MSU is lucky to have this guy! He's one in a million. Anyways, as far as I understand, he's quite old but still has some thoroughbred spunk left in him. I really enjoyed riding this guy, hopefully I'm able to quite often. He's quite the goofball, as you can kind of see in the picture on the left; we had quite the photoshoot yesterday in the barn and he was lovin' the attention! 
This little man is Possum, or as my beloved Ohio/Missouri friends say, Paaaaaassum. He's kind of a quirky character that loves to cuddle and give loving nibbles, and I was told he was "awkward" to ride...not the most endearing description for a horse! What I was told was true, he is fairly awkward to ride; mainly because he avoids turning by only using his neck and throwing his shoulder to the outside. Silly Possum, didn't know I have the tools to easily correct this--never underestimate the power of outside aids (thanks Tara Lambie!). After Possum agreed that I knew what I was doing, we got along just fine! Despite his awkward long nose and pasterns, I loved this guy and am looking forward to riding him lots more in the future!I also got to ride Skip and Lady this week, I'll have to remember to take some pictures of them to put up!
For everyone who doesn't know yet, I've been lucky enough to gain permission to ride with the equestrian team here in Murray (eeeek)! I'm not technically a team member, but I'm going to be helping out exercising the University stock to make sure they are show/practice ready for the team.
I'm so happy to be able to ride while I'm here. It makes me feel at home and fills up my spare time, keeping me from getting home sick (as best as possible).
On this page, I'll be keeping you up to date with my horsey experiences and photos!
This is G, my first trusty mount! He is one of the horses used solely for the hunt team and I really enjoyed riding him.
I have even been assigned my very own project horse for the semester named Pete! He's a thoroughbred originally from the racetrack, and has a reputation around the barn for being a little bit difficult-hopefully I'll be able to help them out and get him going steady. I had my first ride on him yesterday and really enjoyed it; Pete and I are going to have some fun, I can already tell! There will be pictures of Pete to come as my time with him continues!
I promise to post more pictures, it is hard to remember to be camera-ready at the barn!
I will keep you posted!
Love,
Elle
Hey thanks for the shout out! You are the perfect riding "Belle" for the job. I like to think it's due to years demonstration. I was always a model for the gentile way a true Belle must act while training horses!!! ;)
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