Carver!!!!

Ok, so, we've been a bit lax in our postings....hee hee hee. So, CB, Sereele, Socks and I made the big trek down to Carver on June 6th. Unfortunately, it poured out on the Friday that we were supposed to leave so CB and I got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday to head down. OH MAN! Kids loaded on the trailer well. We decided to see if Socks likes the drivers side better than the passenger side. He's been having little meltdowns lately. It worked well and both Sereele and Socks traveled well.
No one told us that Myles Standish's Boy Scout Camp is in the middle of nowhere in Myles Standish Forest!!!!!!! We got to the main gate and drove down these non-descript roads for what seemed like forever. Roads to nowhere!!!!!!! Finally, we came upon the campsite and Becca guided us in past the mucky, boggy parts so we could park next to them for the night. I'm also forgetting to mention that it was still very overcast, windy, and cold there.
We unloaded the kids, made up their pen for the night and they settled in okay. WHEW! Now, what to do....should we ride, should we wait for the sun that was promised? We ride! We all tack up and get ready to go down a separate trail from the main one that they mapped out. It was too many miles for Sereele so we figured we would go out on our own. Unfortunately, Roo was a bit of an oaf and was misbehaving. Becca tried to ride him too and told us to just go without her.
So, off we went down this beautiful sandy trail. The horses were pretty relaxed and I even used the hackamore on Socks that day. His steering was a bit of a problem so we went with the bitted bridle the next day. Ride was great and CB and I really enjoyed it. We did have a run-in with a terradactyl (aka a turkey) but other than that, the ride was pretty uneventful. YAY!
We got back to the camp and were chilling out, CB and I were enjoying a beverage and apparently they went straight to our heads as we were hysterically laughing at Sereele staring at us. We also though Socks pooping was too funny. Yikes, we need sleep! Ha ha ha! We also were laughing at all the people that belonged to the riding club sponsoring the ride. At the meal times, they all had trays to bring to the "mess hall"! It was like watching hungry zombies in action. Very weird!
We all ended up going to bed rather early....I was exhausted not having a lot of sleep prior to leaving. My work schedule is fun like that. UGH!
Morning broke and it was time to go out and ride again. Once again, CB and I had a good ride. We followed the trail markers this time and we did the 10 miles!!!! Woo hoo! The sun actually peeked out too. The trails were very nice and I had a good time!
Time to leave.....packed up our stuff and loaded up the crew. Once again, they loaded pretty well and Socks again traveled okay. YAY! We made it alive through our first camping trip.
Our only bad tidbits were that both Sereele and Socks are complete klutzes and kept tripping constantly and at one point, Socks fell to his knees and sat there, contemplating life or something, before he stood back up and went on his merry way. Weird! AND, I have a strong dislike for portapotties! Ha ha ha!
It was a good time.........next time hopefully the weather will be better!

Trash day

yesterday chris and I decided to ride at 9:00 as she had a baby shower and I had jessie's graduation party later. it rained the night before so I figured the woods would be soaking wet and buggy and muddy, so we decided to do the 5 mile road loop. mile hill road and green street are so quiet and it was early enough there wouldn't be much traffic. hahahahaha. what a nightmare. sereele was nervous anyway, but was good as usual. until we came upon our first trash can piled up about 10 feet high (really!) with trash. that was almost scary enough for her to fall down at the sight of it. I got off and she cat walked past and was fine. we made it down linden pretty well, looping away from all the garbage cans. one big noisy truck pulling a trailer uturned in front of us, but no big deal. she saw her reflection in some big windows on a house that sits right on the road and apparently thinks she is pretty scary looking:). socks was taking a bad step here and there so chris was worried, they just got shoes on thursday. all was fine until a 4 wheeler came scooting out into the street and past us, but they were pretty good about that. then a huge garbage truck was coming towards us and we had a steep cliff on the other side of us. the guy actually turned off his truck and coasted slowly by! very nice. then going down green street we heard an extremely noisy vehicle coming up behind us fast an no where to go. we made it to a drive way in time for another garbage truck to barrel ass past us. this one scared them. ok. than ANOTHER garbage truck poking along toward us trying to be nice, but actually going so slow and noisy that socks said, "I've had enough" and chris scooted him backwards to a driveway. this upset sereele so I had to follow and probably pissed off the garbage guy. phew. we start walking again and a guy tells us to wait a minute and he will get his truck and trailer out of here and not scare the horses. so glad he did, it was the noisiest trailer I've ever heard. so then we just had to go past one attack dog and then the woman who let her dog out of the house to "sic" us and we were home free. I think. I may have blocked some things out. Oh yeah, crackers the dog tried to eat us also, but that was nothing. probably doesn't sound bad, but it wasn't a fun ride:). both horses were actually excellent, got scared but never freaked out. Then we made up for it today. went down linden to the main trial and up the ledge trail to north lookout and around and out at MW. Sereele was the best she has ever been. felt like a normal horse, no nervousness or skittishness. just perfect. she is moving so much better in shoes, no ouchiness, tripping 90% less. and her brain was calm. very happy with our ride today!
Indy leaves tuesday for a 2 month lease with option to buy. making me sick to think about it, but when I see him staring at me when I take out sereele, it breaks my heart. I hope this woman has a nice place and loves him, he deserves the best.

Sereele's first ride off the farm

Chris and I took Socks and Sereele to Stow today! figured a nice relaxing quiet ride on good footing since Socks threw a shoe and Sereele is very ouchy on the rocks. When we got there, there were 2 other horse trailers with horses getting ready to head out and bikers and hikers and dogs, oh my! so I started off leading Sereele, a black dog came around the corner and scared poor socks, he's never seen a dog before you know. then a bike, all fine. Sereele was totally calm so I got on and we rode around for about an hour. Sereele was amazingly good. I think socks spooked more than she did. we passed the horses a couple of times and they were both fine. of course socks wanted to meet them, but he controlled himself. we trotted quite a bit (for us) and they were both tripping and gimping, can't wait for shoes thursday. we had a few good laughs at sock's expense, like when again he almost went head first into a tree and got mad when some people didn't pat him. Sereele went first and second, was brave and not hyper at all. I almost got us lost, but figured it out and got back to the trailer and let them graze for a few minutes. then went to load and Socks was an ass. had to get the trusty broom out and beat him. not really, but we both wanted to. he finally went in and sereele hopped in. Socks was pawing on the way home and all sweaty when we got here. sereele didn't sweat (anhidrosis still). so now our newest worry is why socks is not happy in the trailer. he was out of hay, hopefully he just got himself worked up about it.
We have a lesson with Claudia monday! will be good for all 4 of us. I am SO happy with how well sereele is behaving and handling everything new. next adventure is overnight camping at Myles standish in 2 weeks!

The Show!!!!

I've been in such a fog that I forgot to post about my escapades at the dressage show on the 3rd!!! Loading in the trailer was relatively simple, took two tries to get Socks on and voila, he was on. Sereele got on nicely as well. Everyone traveled well although Socks was a little bit sweaty when we got to Weston but not too bad. Got signed in, got the kids off the trailer and both Socks and Sereele were pretty "normal" and not completely losing it like he did at my last show. YAY US!
Got him tacked up with the help of all my grooms.....Lou, Becca, CB and Mary. You gals rule!!!! Socks and I ventured into the practice ring with about 4 other horses in there. He was a bit "up" but calmed down and even had some really nice moments. I only practiced for about 10 minutes or so. Socks tends to have meltdowns so I didn't want to push him. Sereele was great and they didn't even call each other that much if at all. =) CB did up his hair just before the class. He looked good.........
My first test was up and I was the very first rider in our first class.....UGH! All in all, he didn't do so badly. He didn't spook at the judge and was ok with all the crap going on on the outside of the ring and in the woods. He did, however, decide that circles should be egg shaped and tried to elongate our first circle..bad boy....and my correction was less than stellar but we managed to not leave the ring.
I was third for the next class so the pressure was off a bit. I was horrified to see that there was a lady riding this beautiful Friesan that was clearly beyond walk/trot level but whatever....I was really there to get Socks out and about and if we won something..........well bonus! He did try to leave the ring in our second test and again my corrections were very obvious but hey, we got through it.
We got a 52 and a 54, not great but certainly not horrid for our first time back in the ring with only about 2 weeks to prepare.
As I was leaving the ring, it started to rain......what timing! Socks didn't want to go back on the trailer but eventually, he decided that was a good idea. Sereele was good and went on too. Wasn't a bad day and I definately would like to go to another show this summer!!!!!!

Paranoia

We had a great weekend! friday I took Sereele for a walk alone again and she was much much better. no screaming at all. nervous, but good. just went to rainville's field and let her eat the lush grass and she was very happy. on the way back Wickstrom's had their big white sign out and she almost fell to the ground in fear, but we made it past, it didn't eat her. the next day chris and I did the 7 mile loop! I led her past rainvilles who were pulling logs out of the wood with their tractor (with the help of brave socks) and then up the street a little and got on. she was afraid of all the little "elect so and so" signs so was in the middle of the road alot. we trotted some on the side and socks went first into the dirt road. I asked chris to trot slowly, but socks wanted to either gallop or shuffle, so I passed and she went first up the dirt road and only spooked once, and not a big deal. I really thought she would be scared of all the blind corners and scary logs. she continues to surprise me. we went down the trail, mostly walking with some trotting. when Sereele was first she was pulling to go faster, I had to half halt her alot:). when she was second she was tripping, have to work on her paying attention to the ground when following. we went through the ever growing private dump area and out to the street. I got off to lead her for a while and noticed socks was very sweaty, but sereele wasn't sweating at all. she was puffing though, oh no - anhidrosis! oh, socks is puffing too. but weird that she only sweated under her saddle. a little worried about it, it was our hottest day so far in the 80's. anyway walked for a mile or so and got back on and trotted some to get home. the 7 miles took over 2 hours. exhausting going so slow! poor Chris was wiped out - no sleep, very hot, long ride. figured I over did it with sereele so gave her the next day off (oh no! road founder and sprained suspensories!) and it ended up that chris had to go into work anyway. so sunday I led her up to rainvilles and she was good again, no screaming, but sort of unsettled and prancy on the way home. tonight I found a little black spot on her throat latch area. oh no - melanoma! chris and I have to lighten up, every little thing our horses do we are freaking out that they are dying. is sock's poop dry? he only drank 4 inches instead of 5 inches of water last night. he took a bad step. blah blah blah, we will soon drive each other insane. or we may have already arrived:) but I think we are having a pretty good trip anyway where ever we are headed.

amost perfect?

well chris and I have been having some exciting rides. averaging 3 MPH, chris even had bugs stuck in her teeth yesterday due to the break neck speed. as always chris and socks are very entertaining to ride with. which is a good thing considering the pace we are setting. I am so thrilled with sereele and her good nature. she has been perfect every time I've ridden her. chris is doing some ring work in preparation for her intro tests in weston on May 3rd. they look good! she even cantered in the ring for the first time in a year! we are crazy, I know, but you only live once, haha. Sereele has put on some weight and is losing her angular appearance. she is very sweet and trusting and is putting up with everything. she only spooked once when socks started dragging a huge fallen tree with his leg. and I couldn't help laugh when he almost walked straight in to a tree later. we met some people walking/carrying a little dog and sereele was first and handled it fine. little things I know, but she's been a star. she loves Zak and I think the feeling is mutual, wish they could be turned out together (I think). but another mare is coming is may 1st so she will be her pasture mate. hopefully Haley will be gone.....still no contact from Patti. last I heard she was on a religious retreat. hmmm.
I decided to take Sereele for a walk alone on saturday, she was very unhappy about that. she is very stuck on her horse friends and I don't think has ever been alone. so she screamed for a mile and threw her head around and was all over the street. very scared and nervous. finally shut up for about 15 seconds and I turned for home. she did better on the way home, but still a wreck. so this is what I will have to work on with her. I think she will be ok after a while, she is very sensible and seems to figure things out. once she accepts me as her "buddy" I think she will be perfect!! we even trotted a couple of steps here and there on the trail ride and there and she was excellent. very bouncy! so the journey with her has been fun, good thing because it will be along one to our destination of a 50 mile endurance ride!

best girl!

Started out today showing Indy to a young girl and her very nice family. Chris rode with her a bit in the ring, Indy was very forward and socks was very sideways. then they went up the street for a short trail ride. apparently there was an invisible monstor in MW's driveway and they did and spin and bolt together, but nothing out of control and Valerie was not upset by it. in the meantime the house across the street seemed to be setting off fireworks or something so I called Chris on her cell and they came back home through the back pasture. Valerie really seems to like Indy, I think the only thing is his potential soundness.
Then I tacked up Sereele and chris ventured out with us down Linden street to the main trail. a little prodding was necessary for socks who was quite confused about having to go out AGAIN. sereele was understandably nervous, lots of wind and horses and twirly things and a big rock. but she was very good walking behind her fearless leader socks. I got on in the woods and she was wonderful again. went up the main trail, she went first over a little stonewall with a muddy stream on the other side. went second most of the way. a dog came barking so socks took up the rear to protect her and she was fine. out through Lisa terell's and her gelding came barrelling up, serelle did a little run forward but stopped right away and was very good. I got off and led her the rest of the way home. so proud. for a nervous little girl, she is very very good. at one point I said there was a motor cycle coming, chris said no it's 2, no it's 3, no it's 4, OK it's like 10. there was a fire on the other side and someone walking a dog too. She was fine! nice harely people who slowed down and were kind. I am so happy with her. and chris rode for 3 1/2 hours, a record! thank you Chris for everything, I am very lucky to have you as my friend!