Again, everything was a bit of a blur since The Routine had come routine. Each day we could count down one more day until we left.
Good stuff happened. Paula bought her "rental" Santi, whose only failure in the pre-vet exam was that he was 13 years old. She will be his 4th and final owner in this lifetime, since she thinks so highly of him and they retire their old faithful friends right at their farm. I think it's a wonderful match, and I haven't known either of them that long. Paula didn't learn to jump until she was an adult, and Santi is a pro Children's (or 3 foot) hunter. He's slow, he's smooth, and he covers up mistakes with the patience of a thousand kidergarden teachers in one. We think what sold her was that she almost had a serious head on collision in the schooling area. Any other horse would most likely have ducked hard and bucked. He got her out of the way and kept her on. Good ol' boy. He's perfectly calm and quiet, which will help her get over her nervousness.
Kristin also decided to keep her rental Kitty until the next show in Culpepper, where his owner will bring him home to Florida. Kitty is the ex-olympic-trial jumper who is supposedly teaching her so much about how to ride. If you don't ride him right, he pulls a rail. Her other mare is so careful that she'll cover up for Kristin. However, while Kitty is horribly athletic, he's not going to put out the effort if you do it wrong. He finally went around a course without a rail, and so finally had a chance at top ribbins. Well he got the blue, and everyone was esctatic, so they gave him a banana and he loved it so much he started blowing bubbles and sucking on his tongue.
I bought a saddle (O_o). A very expensive saddle. But it's okay because I told my parents that they would pay me back and that it's for graduation. Dad says I deserve more than that so I don't think it'll be a problem. I'll just be out every dime I made down here until then. Oh well. It fits my mare Cappy (whom I wanted it to fit) and we're looking for some extreme whither relief for Elmer, whose whithers are 3 inches above his back. But everything pinches him so that's nothing new.
In other news, don't try to be friendly and social when it's not on your body's agenda. I tried to go out and hang out with people friday since I didn't want to be seen as not fun and not cool. What has 4 years in college taught me? Don't do this. The day after wasn't a problem, but Friday night I got intoxicated enough that I let the homesickness get to me. I ended up sitting at a table for half an hour at the end writing emails to my friends in Germany. Not a good plan.
Saturday passed as the only good weather all circuit. Go figure. We were wearing sunscreen and t-shirts and not holding our hats to our heads.
Sunday came and it rained. And poured. And 3 horses showed at the same time at 8am. My 3, of course. After starting tacking up the first at 6:30 while Manuel got his two groomed up in case they were needed at a moment's notice, I was just about finished at 7:30 when Georgette decided to get off her ass and brush out Kitty's tail. We had had an issue the day before where I had to take Lennon home, untack and groom him minimally, groom and tack Kitty, and be at the next ring in 30 minutes. I texted her a head of time to hint that I would need help by asking what Kitty's status was and lettin her know that he was needed soon. Got back and he was still in his stall. All she did was put him in the crossties and put his saddle on when I asked. I had to brush his legs off, put on his boots, comb his tail, everything once Lennon was done. I asked if she was doing nothing (since she was standing talking to the neighbor) if she would help me. She flat out ignored me. I told elizabeth when we went to the ring and she said it was something we had to work out ourselves. I had already told Georgette that Manuel and I were fed up taking care of her horses when she decided to go off and eat or shop, so I told Elizabeth we had, but I wanted to make her aware of the "situation." Elizabeth apparently doesn't care.
Anyway, back to Sunday: we sent Liza and Lennon up to their ring alone to do their children's hunter hack with a rain sheet and her mother, and told them to hang out there and Elizabeth would come and do her jumping rounds as soon as she could. Then Artie went to his ring with Georgette and Kitty and I hiked up the the Grand Prix ring. Kristin pulled rails. Melanie fell of Artie in the schooling ring then stopped twice in the class. At least Lennon got 4 or something in his hack. Back to the barn got Galan and Lou ready. Galan was needed around 9:30. Then the call came of "where is Lou? Is she on her way?" Nope "Well she needs to be she's 14 trips away." Manuel says "See, this is why I get them ready early, because you never know." So he speed walked her up to her ring, and Galan and I slowly made our way to stand in the rain for about 30 to 40 minutes waiting for Kristin to jump Lou. Then they came, we schooled, showed, and waitied to jog. She only jogged dead last in the first class, since she pulled a rail in the second and was off course in the third. Nevermind that she completely stopped and took out a fence in the first...
After 2 hours at the ring in the rain (in my spiffy new coat and hat so I was dry!) we made our way back. Packing commenced speedily, since the only horse left to show was Shine, and she was much later. We packed and were mostly ready, got the call that it was raining too much for Shine to show, finished packing everything, and were going to head out except we weren't allowed. Shine was going to be picked up along the way so we had to start out later so her picker-upper wasn't leaving at 2am. Apparently the fact that we're driving 14 hours means nothing to someone who has to only drive 2 or 4.
Once we left, we called Shine's owner to get her shipper's info, then arranged with the shipper what we were doing. Why hadn't this been decided before we left? No one knows and was pretty grummpy about. Then we got a stern talking-to by Elizabeth for not going through her when talking to clients. Whoops. Not.
Shine got dropped off at 7am in a Target parking lot. We made it home by 12:30pm (after going 3 to 4 hours out of our way to drop her off). I dove home and collapsed. The end.
This trip wasn't what I expected. I was told it would be fun, that the people were nice, and that I would learn a lot. I learned a lot, but more about the people and the world than about training. Grooming I picked up a lot on, and I watched when I could to learn more about training and teaching. But really, it was mostly about people that I learned. I suppose this will be the focus of the final paper.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Week 7 = Show week 5
Not as much this week.
Torrential downpours on Thursday led to our clients scratching their classes, and rain on Friday meant the rings were horrendous so they scratched again. Pretty slow days, and the worst part was the care of not wet but saturated leather. Everything was soaked. Not exactly much fun, but due to spring break and a "lack" of work to do outside of the horse show stuff, I was able to start watching tv rerun episodes on my computer to relax in the evening. A few of us were even able to relax and "go out" to a club Friday night! It was a bunch of fun.
Saturday was sunny and windy, so the rings were able to begin to dry, but that doesn't mean they were dry at all. Saturday was my big "experience" day this week. I know what shoe studs are and that they give more traction when riding, but I've never had to use them. Since the rings had horrible footing and we were jumping between 3'6" and 4'3" for our jumpers, I learned how to put studs in! We didn't have plugs in the holes to keep them clean so we picked the dirt out of the holes then used a tool with screws and trenches down to clean out the rest of the dirt. Then the studs are put in and gently tightened using pliers. We only did the back feet with the jumpers, and if you can't find a matching set in the stud box then the slightly larger stud goes on the outside of the horse.
I also found out what "breaking the timers" means. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the classes. One jumper shows in the Adult High Jumpers (3'6") and the other in the Amateur Owner Low Jumpers (4-4'3"). Sunday they have the regular classes, but also a "Classic" with substantial paybacks. To ride in this classic, a rider and horse must have a score from one of the three previous days. Since we didn't show thursday or friday, we only had saturday (this usually isn't an issue since they show all three days anyway). The AO Lows went early in the morning, and the footing was still awful and the wind was literally blowing jumps over. Kristin had two (Wildcat and Lou) to show here, and she and Elizabeth decided for saftey reasons to just break the timers to get a score. I learned that this means going into the ring, paying for the class, and riding through the start and end timers to "get a score" but simply not do any jumps.
Also learned this week: Jumpers (at higher levels) are not allowed to tie a horses head down, which is why so many jumpers use running as opposed to standing martingales. They also help with turning and control. All our jumpers show in flash nosebands too, which I know helps keep the horses mouths shut and gives more control. However, flash nosebands aren't allowed in the hunter rings which is why I've never used one before.
The classics went well on Sunday and Lou even placed 2nd! Overall though this was a slow week, due to the rain and the low number of horses showing. Week 6 will be a bit more work, since Liza will come back to show Lennon and we will be packing and leaving Sunday night!
Torrential downpours on Thursday led to our clients scratching their classes, and rain on Friday meant the rings were horrendous so they scratched again. Pretty slow days, and the worst part was the care of not wet but saturated leather. Everything was soaked. Not exactly much fun, but due to spring break and a "lack" of work to do outside of the horse show stuff, I was able to start watching tv rerun episodes on my computer to relax in the evening. A few of us were even able to relax and "go out" to a club Friday night! It was a bunch of fun.
Saturday was sunny and windy, so the rings were able to begin to dry, but that doesn't mean they were dry at all. Saturday was my big "experience" day this week. I know what shoe studs are and that they give more traction when riding, but I've never had to use them. Since the rings had horrible footing and we were jumping between 3'6" and 4'3" for our jumpers, I learned how to put studs in! We didn't have plugs in the holes to keep them clean so we picked the dirt out of the holes then used a tool with screws and trenches down to clean out the rest of the dirt. Then the studs are put in and gently tightened using pliers. We only did the back feet with the jumpers, and if you can't find a matching set in the stud box then the slightly larger stud goes on the outside of the horse.
I also found out what "breaking the timers" means. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the classes. One jumper shows in the Adult High Jumpers (3'6") and the other in the Amateur Owner Low Jumpers (4-4'3"). Sunday they have the regular classes, but also a "Classic" with substantial paybacks. To ride in this classic, a rider and horse must have a score from one of the three previous days. Since we didn't show thursday or friday, we only had saturday (this usually isn't an issue since they show all three days anyway). The AO Lows went early in the morning, and the footing was still awful and the wind was literally blowing jumps over. Kristin had two (Wildcat and Lou) to show here, and she and Elizabeth decided for saftey reasons to just break the timers to get a score. I learned that this means going into the ring, paying for the class, and riding through the start and end timers to "get a score" but simply not do any jumps.
Also learned this week: Jumpers (at higher levels) are not allowed to tie a horses head down, which is why so many jumpers use running as opposed to standing martingales. They also help with turning and control. All our jumpers show in flash nosebands too, which I know helps keep the horses mouths shut and gives more control. However, flash nosebands aren't allowed in the hunter rings which is why I've never used one before.
The classics went well on Sunday and Lou even placed 2nd! Overall though this was a slow week, due to the rain and the low number of horses showing. Week 6 will be a bit more work, since Liza will come back to show Lennon and we will be packing and leaving Sunday night!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Show week 4
Same old same old this week, at chore wise. Clean the horse, do the stalls, feed, etc.
Melanies mother came to watch her show this week, so extra spectator who was thankfully nice and stayed out of the way. Hunter came again to ride lennon, bringing her recently returned from Iraq husband chris, who was also awesome. No client troubles this week in summary.
Wednesday however, shine was listless and showing signs of colic with a fever we kept an eye on her and she improveda bit with banamine. However, that night, after I had gone to sleep, Elizabeth decided to have us... The help... Check her hourly. I understand but was furious at being woken up to be told to wake up in an hr. Needless to say, I got little (less than four) hours of sleep. My turn came again at 2:30, where here temp spiked and I called Elizabeth (ha) who had me wake ip the vet. Vet had me give her bute, and bring her in at 8:30. We spent 3 hours at the vet getting 4 bags of IV fluids, a stomach tube, and watching as one vets new puppy dog was kicked and killed by a horse. I then had to go back and care for my horses. Thursday was the day from hell.
Friday was little better, since we were all still exhausted and st least 6 horses were showing. We were on the grounds til seven. We finally all got enough sleep by Saturday, but Georgette decided to be a witch about helping me and Manuel, since she had no horses showing and didn't get the concept that we all help each other when we're busy. I told Manuel what I had overheard her say to a neighbor about it and I hope he discussed it with her. Come Sunday though, we were ready to be done. Three of our six went before 9am (all jumpers thank god), then it was juggling the three hunters. Last was mine and I thought we were done by 1... But I was wrong. Hunter and Lennon still had their Classic to do. I cried on the inside on the way walking home. But it turned out well, with cute little hunter and good old Lennon winning their division classic. We were all ecstatic for her, since it was a great way to end the week and a great occurance for her.
Monday without classwork is even more boring than a Monday with work. Oh well.
Melanies mother came to watch her show this week, so extra spectator who was thankfully nice and stayed out of the way. Hunter came again to ride lennon, bringing her recently returned from Iraq husband chris, who was also awesome. No client troubles this week in summary.
Wednesday however, shine was listless and showing signs of colic with a fever we kept an eye on her and she improveda bit with banamine. However, that night, after I had gone to sleep, Elizabeth decided to have us... The help... Check her hourly. I understand but was furious at being woken up to be told to wake up in an hr. Needless to say, I got little (less than four) hours of sleep. My turn came again at 2:30, where here temp spiked and I called Elizabeth (ha) who had me wake ip the vet. Vet had me give her bute, and bring her in at 8:30. We spent 3 hours at the vet getting 4 bags of IV fluids, a stomach tube, and watching as one vets new puppy dog was kicked and killed by a horse. I then had to go back and care for my horses. Thursday was the day from hell.
Friday was little better, since we were all still exhausted and st least 6 horses were showing. We were on the grounds til seven. We finally all got enough sleep by Saturday, but Georgette decided to be a witch about helping me and Manuel, since she had no horses showing and didn't get the concept that we all help each other when we're busy. I told Manuel what I had overheard her say to a neighbor about it and I hope he discussed it with her. Come Sunday though, we were ready to be done. Three of our six went before 9am (all jumpers thank god), then it was juggling the three hunters. Last was mine and I thought we were done by 1... But I was wrong. Hunter and Lennon still had their Classic to do. I cried on the inside on the way walking home. But it turned out well, with cute little hunter and good old Lennon winning their division classic. We were all ecstatic for her, since it was a great way to end the week and a great occurance for her.
Monday without classwork is even more boring than a Monday with work. Oh well.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Show week 3
Everything runs smoothly now in and around the barn, and this has been the busiest week yet. Manuel, Georgette and I are running smoothly as a team, and our "busy" days weren't horrible this weekend.
The Allners (Cindy and her daughter Liza) as well as Paula's daughter Kristen all came Wednesday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday became busybusybusy. But not unmanageable. This week has been a big lesson in people and attidudes.
I expected a big attitude for the people with big money. All of Elizabeth's clients, with the exception of the new ones who owned Anton and went home, however, couldn't be nicer. Sure, I see the stuck ups around, but these clients really love their horses and don't treat us (the help) like crap. The allners even helped clean tack to make things go faster, and none of them simply walk in and drop a horse off if all three of us are busy. They'll take a bridle off and slip a halter on the horse without rolling their eyes at our failure. And these people have truckloads of money. Boatloads. Probably could own their own nation somewhere.
I've come to get a hands-on lesson in "it's not only how you treat your equals but also those under you" in the true measure of character of a person. I've gained respect for people and lost it for others.
Georgette and I were having issues getting along- or at least it felt like I was always under her critcism for something or the other. I finally started snapping back with reasoning as to why I did something and she started backing off. We're working much better together now. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had a surprise visit from her sons and her husband. I don't know about how she treated her clients, but the second they came Manuel, Georgette and I became 3rd class citizens in the house and at the barn. I am working on very short sleep for the past 3 nights thanks to having no door to my room and having a screaming 4yo running around the house with no one to stop him. Georgette and I have been trying to do laundry all weekend only to be "cut in line" by elizabeth and the boys, who are going home today and could just take dirty clothes home. I guess I've gained (and in return found respect for) Georgette, while entirely losing all personal respect but a professional interest in Elizabeth's abilities.
I think I agree with a girl at our barn who is an extremely acomplished rider. No way in hell would I ever want to be a trainer. Your life isn't your own, and if you try to make it so, someone gets hurt, either family, clients, or employees. It's up to you to chose whom it is.
The clients all treat us well now; don't get me wrong. They are the bosses of Elizabeth, who is in turn our boss, so in this respect, we could be less than dirt to them. So far, none of the current edition have had a problem with me, snapped at me, or criticised me for a mistake (e.g. I forgot to take Liza's bat to the ring when I was rushing to bring her horse. We just borrowed Elizabeth's and now I have to find her's before she comes back for week 6). The all tip and tip well (and promplty). I really wouldn't mind doing this for 3 more weeks if I didn't have to put up with knowing how Elizabeth could and probably will treat us for 3 weeks. Annette Traband and Lisa, a rider from our barn, are coming to visit for the beginning of week 5 and I am looking forward to some friends. I never considered myself a homebody (despite going to PSU and being a townie) or overly attached to anything but my horses. But being down here is very lonely, when you have no friends and there are horses everywhere and you have it rubbed in your face every day that you're not allowed to even walk one. Some of the earlier week riders/clients were allowed to exercise "extra" horses when there was no time for Elizabeth or Georgette to do it, and would talk about how they would love to ride this one or that one. All I could do was smile and think "I wish I could get on even one." I guess this is the blatantly self-centered attitude with a lack of regard for those underneath them that I was expecting from these people anyway, but it cuts deeply at times.
Shine didn't show in the Junior hunter classic at 7:30 am on sunday (thank god) but Artie did show in the jumper classic at 6pm (and 42nd in the order, so more like 7:30pm) on saturday night. Mel rode so well, we're all proud of her, and made it into the jump off... which meant another 45 minutes sitting up at the Prix ring waiting. Everyone but manuel (who stood with groom friends) and myself (who got to chill with Artie, who was restless after getting his blood pumped during the first round) went into the exhibitors VIP tent and ate and drank. They finally remembered me and Manuel about 40 minutes later and brought us each a small beer. Oh well. Mel pulled a rail or two at the liverpool but she still was in the top 20 who made the jump off! After everyone helped me put him away, but it was still a late night, made later by the kids running around the house.
All in all, started out well and went downhill, socially but not work-wise. I hope that this week proves better. The Allners left but Hunter, Elizabeth's friend who showed Lennon the first week, is coming back with her husband, who just returned from 13 months in Iraq. She's as nice as the Allners, if not moreso, and the kids are leaving, so I think this week may be better if we all can keep a civil work relationship with Elizabeth.
Tomorrow's my 22nd birthday. What do I want? Nothing that I can have. I want my horses, I want my friends and family, and tomorrow I celebrate being one day closer to coming back to the frigid north.
The Allners (Cindy and her daughter Liza) as well as Paula's daughter Kristen all came Wednesday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday became busybusybusy. But not unmanageable. This week has been a big lesson in people and attidudes.
I expected a big attitude for the people with big money. All of Elizabeth's clients, with the exception of the new ones who owned Anton and went home, however, couldn't be nicer. Sure, I see the stuck ups around, but these clients really love their horses and don't treat us (the help) like crap. The allners even helped clean tack to make things go faster, and none of them simply walk in and drop a horse off if all three of us are busy. They'll take a bridle off and slip a halter on the horse without rolling their eyes at our failure. And these people have truckloads of money. Boatloads. Probably could own their own nation somewhere.
I've come to get a hands-on lesson in "it's not only how you treat your equals but also those under you" in the true measure of character of a person. I've gained respect for people and lost it for others.
Georgette and I were having issues getting along- or at least it felt like I was always under her critcism for something or the other. I finally started snapping back with reasoning as to why I did something and she started backing off. We're working much better together now. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had a surprise visit from her sons and her husband. I don't know about how she treated her clients, but the second they came Manuel, Georgette and I became 3rd class citizens in the house and at the barn. I am working on very short sleep for the past 3 nights thanks to having no door to my room and having a screaming 4yo running around the house with no one to stop him. Georgette and I have been trying to do laundry all weekend only to be "cut in line" by elizabeth and the boys, who are going home today and could just take dirty clothes home. I guess I've gained (and in return found respect for) Georgette, while entirely losing all personal respect but a professional interest in Elizabeth's abilities.
I think I agree with a girl at our barn who is an extremely acomplished rider. No way in hell would I ever want to be a trainer. Your life isn't your own, and if you try to make it so, someone gets hurt, either family, clients, or employees. It's up to you to chose whom it is.
The clients all treat us well now; don't get me wrong. They are the bosses of Elizabeth, who is in turn our boss, so in this respect, we could be less than dirt to them. So far, none of the current edition have had a problem with me, snapped at me, or criticised me for a mistake (e.g. I forgot to take Liza's bat to the ring when I was rushing to bring her horse. We just borrowed Elizabeth's and now I have to find her's before she comes back for week 6). The all tip and tip well (and promplty). I really wouldn't mind doing this for 3 more weeks if I didn't have to put up with knowing how Elizabeth could and probably will treat us for 3 weeks. Annette Traband and Lisa, a rider from our barn, are coming to visit for the beginning of week 5 and I am looking forward to some friends. I never considered myself a homebody (despite going to PSU and being a townie) or overly attached to anything but my horses. But being down here is very lonely, when you have no friends and there are horses everywhere and you have it rubbed in your face every day that you're not allowed to even walk one. Some of the earlier week riders/clients were allowed to exercise "extra" horses when there was no time for Elizabeth or Georgette to do it, and would talk about how they would love to ride this one or that one. All I could do was smile and think "I wish I could get on even one." I guess this is the blatantly self-centered attitude with a lack of regard for those underneath them that I was expecting from these people anyway, but it cuts deeply at times.
Shine didn't show in the Junior hunter classic at 7:30 am on sunday (thank god) but Artie did show in the jumper classic at 6pm (and 42nd in the order, so more like 7:30pm) on saturday night. Mel rode so well, we're all proud of her, and made it into the jump off... which meant another 45 minutes sitting up at the Prix ring waiting. Everyone but manuel (who stood with groom friends) and myself (who got to chill with Artie, who was restless after getting his blood pumped during the first round) went into the exhibitors VIP tent and ate and drank. They finally remembered me and Manuel about 40 minutes later and brought us each a small beer. Oh well. Mel pulled a rail or two at the liverpool but she still was in the top 20 who made the jump off! After everyone helped me put him away, but it was still a late night, made later by the kids running around the house.
All in all, started out well and went downhill, socially but not work-wise. I hope that this week proves better. The Allners left but Hunter, Elizabeth's friend who showed Lennon the first week, is coming back with her husband, who just returned from 13 months in Iraq. She's as nice as the Allners, if not moreso, and the kids are leaving, so I think this week may be better if we all can keep a civil work relationship with Elizabeth.
Tomorrow's my 22nd birthday. What do I want? Nothing that I can have. I want my horses, I want my friends and family, and tomorrow I celebrate being one day closer to coming back to the frigid north.
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