This post explains the trials and tribulations of Gunner and his EPM. After two years today we took Gunner to his first horse show. I woke at 2 am worried about how the day would go. Would he load, would he stand, would he freak out at every little thing.
Well guess what? He hopped in the trailer like it was an every day event, he stood like a dream and only really freaked out twice.
I parked our rig under an oak tree hoping for some of it's shade. Instead we got pelted most of the day with acorns. I thought it would bother him, but he was more afraid of the bucket that S forgot to attach to the trailer after it fell unexpectedly. Thus we had escape number one. He pulled back, broke his snap and quietly wandered away. About an hour later something else must have spooked him and he wandered to another trailer and calmly ate grass until someone kindly brought him back.
On to the riding portion of the day... He was pretty good at his trot run and a bit spooky at the first lope run. His third run he bucked a little between barrels. N then took him to the practice arena and wore off the buck. His last "run" was perfect. I say run, but in fact he is at the fast lope/trot stage of barrel racing.
A perfect first show.
S took Dixie and had one of her off days. Some days she just doesn't concentrate on what she is doing and she steers the horse around like a drunken soldier. I'm not sure why yet besides perhaps lack of concentration. When I asked her about her plan for the upcoming barrel class she started talking about something completely off topic. At times I think she has a slight case of ADD, but it has never been to the point of testing her. She can concentrate when she really wants to.
Last Christmas we bought a very nice Nikon D50 as a family gift. This summer I broke a small piece off of it that indicates to the camera when we change lenses. Because we were graciously given a couple of very nice lenses I took the camera into the shop to be repaired. The said the estimate would be in in a week and a half. Monday marks three weeks and still no estimate. My old camera works, but boy do I miss the big boy!
Saturday, September 01, 2007
The day that almost never happened
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Sounds like Gunner did great! Glad to hear a story of a horse recovering from EPM. It took years for mine to come around.
Rachel is having problems with steering her horse with the reins instead of her legs and the results sounds just like what you're describing here. As much as she knows it's going to cost her, Rachel it's just so much easier to cheat. I'm sure that going around barrels, it's the same thing. But it sure doesn't help the horse use its body efficiently (which would be the key to speed! in this case)
Congrats of the show. Nice shots to go along with your perfect day.
Wonderful! I am so glad the first show went so well.
Yes, I'm always going for shade and getting acorns or something. But it sounds like a very good first show. What a handsome guy! And I think your pictures are great. I could never catch that motion shot.
Hope school goes well!
Anne
Post a Comment