The World According To Madeleine

Last summer, before I was riding Guy, I rode Alaska. She was available for half-lease, and, assuming she wasn’t too much for me, I would’ve been half-leasing her. Sadly, she had developed epm, which no one was aware of until right before my lesson on her. I rode Guy a couple weeks later, who was also available for half-lease and was a great horse for me, I’m half-leasing him now and Alaska has recovered completely. I’ve been to shows on Guy, and I have become a much better rider. Now, Guy’s owners are thinking of moving him to a barn closer to where they live. This is sad, because I will miss Guy very much. He taught me a lot. This is also a good thing, in a way. Rob said to my mom that I’m probably ready to move on to a different horse. So, even if Guy doesn’t leave, I’ll probably stop half-leasing him, and move on to another horse. There are several that I could half-lease, and Alaska is one of them. I think I’ll be riding her to see if I like her. I’m pretty sure I will, from seeing other people ride her. I hope so. I’ve always loved Alaska, and I love her owners too, which is good. I hope everything works out…

Well, on Friday we finished our first week of school, which, of course, was incredibly boring. On Tuesday we went to the small gym, found out our first hour teacher, which I already knew. So then we went into the big gym and sat in front of the teacher’s name. Then we got the “We’re glad your back, it’s going to be an exiting year this year” speech. Next we went to our first hour, got our schedules and agendas, then went to our first core class, found out what group we’d be in, then went around to all the teachers and read a page of the handbook. After lunch we went back to our first hour, got our lockers (I think that’s what we did) and then continued reading the handbook. After that we read The Sneeches, and were supposed to think about how that related to us. Then we went outside and did a lame “get to know one another” game. The we did arobruiniks or what ever the heck he called it. They were dance moves he said would help us not make a fool of ourselves at dances and “boost our popularity”. I sure could feel my popularity boosting while I was doing those dance moves. Then we went home. Wednesday was just as boring, all day we just read syllabuses, or syllabi, or whatever it is. Then after school I had cross country and then a riding lesson. Thursday was pretty boring too, we got a song in jazz band, and started playing in regular band. We did a couple things, but mostly nothing. Friday was boring too, we took a quiz in math and in science we did this weird string thing, and then I went to cross country practice, which didn’t involve much running. I’m so glad it’s the weekend.

I’ll have pictures later of my trip to Arizona.

Last weekend Guy and I went to our first show. On Friday I went to the barn to get ready and put wraps on Guy, which I’d never done before. The wraps were Mom’s from when she had Pickles and Mom even made the pillow wraps. They turned out really good and the color (maroon) looked really good on Guy. Guy was great loading into the trailer, he got in no problem. One of the other horses took a while though. Once we got there we put the horses in thier stalls and organized the tack room, then schooled. The main ring riders went first, and then it started raining so we had to wait a while to school. When I was warming up Guy was pretty nervous. Once he started cantering when a car drove buy (the warm-up ring was pretty close to the road), and then later he spooked and I fell off. I got back on and then he threw his head up and hit me in the jaw. After that we were fine. We tried to braid Guy but his bald spot was too big to do anything with. The next day we actually showed. And the show name I chose (My Kinda Guy) sounded really good beind announced. Guy was awesome, we had no refusals showing, and he never spooked, even when a horse tried to pass us on the outside way to close for comfort. After we were done I went to cool off Guy and he spooked. I fell off. The girl that grabbed Guy must have though I was crazy because after I took him I started cracking up and couldn’t stop for a while. After that I hosed him off and went to watch the main ring riders. I had a very yummy lunch of walking tacos too. The next day showing Guy was just as good. No refusals, he didn’t spook, and I didn’t fall off.

This actually happened a while ago (beggining of June) but I never blogged about it. I rode a horse named Guy who I could half-lease if I liked him, he was super fun and now I’m half-leasing him. Guy is an awesome horse, he makes me work, but when I do everything right he makes me look good and is so much fun to ride. Sometimes he spooks but I can avoid that. He’s super smooth and he loves to jump. He’s really pretty too. I’m actually going to a show with him this weekend.

Mom was telling me that a horse at the barn I ride at was going to be put up for half lease, and that she might be a good horse for me. The next day I find out I am going to ride her. I’m so thrilled, and after I finish putting her tack on, I go outside. All the sudden people are freaking out and telling me to walk her around, calling the vet. I take her up to her stall, and I’ve got this big adrenaline rush from being scared. I thought I did something to her. Now I know she has EPM, and I just hope they caught it early enough for her to make a full recovery. But it just stinks, if I could have half-leased her, it would have been great for everyone. I knew it was too good to be true…

Yesterday I also had the last jump teams, I wasn’t there in time to ride, but I was there for the awards. I was sort of glad I didn’t ride because Spirit is a lot different outside. He started bucking and galloping across the arena after a jump on Tuesday. But I got two awards, one for being on the first place team, and the other one for showing up, even though things might not have gone so great, but you were a good sport and learned a lot. Jump teams were so fun.