This year I learned....

Well, show season is over, and it's getting colder. So, I decided to review what I learned this year:

I learned to....

....Lunge
....Canter
....Pivot (on the ground and in the saddle)
....Do Showmanship
....Quarter
....Open a gate while on horseback
....Post and canter without stirrups
....Do Equitation
....Love Equitation
....Memorize patterns inside and out....and then again
....Not be afraid when a horse gets hyper



And this year, I....

....Got a new horse
....Actually got a horse trailer
....Won ribbons at my first show
....Took the intermediate high point at the Bureau County 4-H fair
....Got eighth place in Hunter Showmanship at the State Fair Junior Horse Show
....Won third place in Equitation at the Bureau County Fair


All in all, I would say it was a fantastic year, I love my horses, and my main goal is still to have fun. :)

Midwest Foundation Quarter Horse Association Show

Two Sundays ago (yes, this is late...) Faith and I went to a show. A very damp and drizzly show. However, it was worth it.
In halter, Faith and I actually got to go to the grand champion/reserve grand champion round, even though we didn't get anything in it, so that was exciting. We got first place in showmanship.
And then it rained.....the saddle cover worked well the protect my helmet....at least until it was needed for the saddle.


Yeah...still not sure why I let my mom take that......
Anyways, after it stopped raining, they continued ('cause they have an indoor arena). The first pleasure class was walk-trot pleasure, and we got second out of 12 people! :)
The next class was a walk-trot-canter class, and Faith was sort of strong in her canter, so we got fourth. We did well in the rest of our pleasure classes too, though I don't remember the exact placings. Equitation was next, and right before our turn, it started POURING down rain. Mom was worried that Faith would become distracted. She didn't, and we got first. The judge said that we had won by over ten points. (!)
And I found out about dizzy dizzy cowboy and bribe your horse.
Dizzy dizzy cowboy is were you ride your horse to the far end of the arena, jump off (and someone takes your horse), take a bat someone else has, put your forehead on it and spin around a specified number of times (at this show, it was 10), then you run back to the end you started at. I got sixth.
Bribe your horse is where you take something, like a treat, run around a barrel with them following you, and come back. We used her bucket and her feed. My, did she want that bucket! I ran around the barrel with her on my heels, and we got a second place. We looked as if we had heard about it before earlier that day!
They had moved trail to last, and that was our last class. However, Faith didn't want to behave, and we got second out of two people. The judge very kindly told me I could do it in hand because it was the last class of the day, and then Faith behaved perfectly. Go figure.
And then last Friday, we went to the Pekin Riding Club Show, and Faith didn't behave at all. The only thing me and my parents can figure is that she really dislikes the lights, and she's in heat. So we only got second out of two people in Showmanship, and didn't place in anything else.....oh well....

Pekin Riding Club Horse Show

Faith and I journeyed to Pekin on Friday night, a few days after her hooves being trimmed.
We started out in halter, and we did better than expected, placing fifth out of quite a few people (I forget the exact number).
Next we did showmanship. We were the only ones in the class. So, of course, we got first, or as the announcer put it, first place and last place and every place in between.
Our first riding class, which was right after showmanship (though we got a break to tack up), was English Pleasure, which we got fourth in. Next up (I think) was walk trot pleasure, with two people in it.....We got second. (but we still got a ribbon! So that's still good!) And then came walk-trot equitation, which we got....well, I don't remember exactly, but I think it was second or fourth. After that came equitation, where there were four people. Faith bobbled at the first cone, so we got fourth (but I didn't fall of and I rode well, and that's what counted). Finally, my last class was Country Pleasure, where you started out at the walk and then showed at your favorite gait. We didn't place. However, that might have been because afterwards, we found out that her front feet were tender. So we didn't go into any other classes. But that was okay, since Faith needed to go home and rest.
Since Faith was resting, I rode Zippy the other day and got the idea in my head to smooth out her canter and try riding her in dressage. Even though she's bred for Western Pleasure. So now I'm going to try and do that......And I ask that you wish me luck.

Bureau County Fair Horse Show

Posting this a little late, but Faith and I went to the Bureau County Fair Horse show.
We did very well, especially now that I look back on the fact I only got her in April.
We got fourth in English Pleasure. :) We got fifth in halter- actually not getting last! How exactly did that happen?
And then my last class of the day was Equitation. I, for some reason love Equitation so much. It's my favorite class. Here, I got third. The second place person was 18 and the first place person was 16 and had been riding for a long time.
Mom says we would have placed in Showmanship, but my brain died at exactly the wrong moment, so for a second I went off pattern. I righted myself and went on, but I knew I wouldn't get anything. I did my best anyways. Faith was spectacular, and did everything well, so I'm happy about that. We had a wonderful time together-and to me, that's what matters most. :)

Green River Saddle Club

Saturday, Faith and I went to the Green River Saddle Club's annual pleasure show.
Unfortunately, it rained.
Fortunately, the show went on, and Faithers and I did well.
We did a couple of halters, and we got fourth in one of them. Then we did Showmanship and got second. I think being out of the arena (they were allowing the arena to dry a little) maybe messed us up a bit, because we stopped too close the the last cone. Oh well. We learned not to do that.
Then Faith was a bit antsy during walk-trot pleasure, so we got second (Out of two people, but that's still good, right?). But we got first in Pleasure! Figures....
Then came Equitation! I love Equitation so much, and I don't know why..... But I got first in it!
A friend that I made, Eva, talked me into doing egg and spoon, so I got third.
And so that was our show. :)

Camp Tuckabatchee Horse Show

Today I went to a horse show, despite the fact that Faith is in heat. We won five firsts, two seconds, and one fourth.
Got the firsts for Equitation, Walk-Trot Equitation, Trot Flag, Trot Barrels, and Trot Plug.
Got the seconds for Walk-Trot Pleasure and Trot Poles.
And I got the fourth in English Pleasure.
Faith got antsy during the gaming classes, but really antsy after them, right before egg and spoon.
In egg and spoon, they asked us to canter right away. I dropped it. (most everybody did)
I also did the potato race, which is just like plug, except you drop a potato in a bucket.
All in all, it was a good day.

More pictures from the WEG

Pictures from World Equestrian Games (that I took)

Someday, I want to ride in one of these.

Equine Therapy

Winston Churchill once said, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” He was right about that. Horses, whether they are simply owned, or helping in physical therapy and mental therapy, are good for humans.

Outside of physical therapy and mental therapy, horses provide health benefits that we do not always think about. Horses help people stay healthy, not only by riding them but also by taking care of them. Mucking is a great activity for burning calories, so some horse owners save money by not getting a gym membership, and instead muck out. Mucking, itself, burns about 354 calories per hour! When you groom your horse you burn 6 calories per minute. The calories burned while riding varies depending on what gait you are going. You burn 2 calories per minute while walking, 6 calories per minute trotting, and 8 calories per minute galloping. A one-hour ride burns about as many calories as a 30-minute cardio routine, jog, or bicycle ride. While you are burning calories riding, the knees are not getting as stressed as they would in similar types of exercise like the already mentioned walking, or swimming. Because it puts so little stress on your knees, Japanese engineers decided in 2005 to create an exercise machine that simulated the horse’s movement. However, helping us exercise is not all horses do for us.

Hippotherapy, which is defined as “physical therapy in which a patient sits or lies on a horses back for the therapeutic effect of the horses movement”, goes back to ancient Greece, where the physical and emotional benefits of riding were identified. England recognized the healing qualities of horses during World War I, when wounded soldiers were being offered riding therapy at the Oxford Hospital. The 1960’s were the development period of the Hippotherapy that we know today. In 1969, British Riding for the Disabled was founded, as well as North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.

Users of Hippotherapy gain more balance, and it has been shown to help back pain. The walk of the horse has been found to be very similar to the human walk, moving the pelvis in the same way, and about the same speed, actually taking the same number of steps per minute, strengthening the walking muscles without the rider actually walking, which is beneficial for people in wheelchairs who cannot walk. People with Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Sclerosis have a reduction in spasticity, which is due to the stretching of leg muscles, which normalizes the muscle tone. The heat of the horse stimulates the muscles and increases blood flow. Hippotherapy also noticeably improves posture. The therapist may place the patient in a variety of positions such as laying across the horse, laying on the horses neck with the feet out of the stirrups and knees flexed, side sitting, or regular sitting position. There is also a chair that is shaped like a horse, which forces you to sit up straight as if you were on a real one. In testimony to the healing powers of riding is Liz Hartel, who was confined to a wheelchair by polio. Despite her handicap, she won the silver medal at the 1952 Olympics for Dressage. She repeated her accomplishment in 1956.

Horses also provide mental therapy. They don’t care if you have a learning disorder or about your past. People who have lied, cheated, and manipulated learn that lying, cheating, and manipulating don’t work. People with little self-confidence can learn that they can do things well, and that will spill over into their other areas of life. They can work with a difficult horse, learn to post, or simply ride well. Children with Attention Deficit Disorder will focus on a horse to groom it or ride it. Horses are also great listeners, and they will listen to your problems. They can also act as a mirror, and act according to your emotion, such as turning gentle when they sense a person is broken inside. Horses become fearful when someone acts aggressive or too pushy; when the person makes requests instead of demands, the horse will cooperate. Emotional control is learned as well, as having outbursts, shouting, and crying can upset the horse, so children can learn to express themselves appropriately. Children who do not trust will learn to trust the instructor, the horse, and themselves. Therapeutic riding helps Autistic children who hardly talk learn the horse’s name, the cues, and they talk to the horse. Rhythm and balance, which horses provide, are very good for children with autism.

Horses have been used throughout history for a great many things. They used to be our transportation, but now they are considered recreation. However, as you can see, they are used for more than that. The physical benefits of taking care of and riding a horse, plus Hippotherapy and mental therapy, show that the horse is still more then recreation. Horses still help humans; their outside is still good for the inside of us.

Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting? It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray. It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.




Job 39: 19-24

Why predominately Western?

At my county 4-H fair, they have a total of about two English riding classes. Well, maybe a couple more, but in that range, at least.
How many classes do they have for Western riding? Hmm, lets actually go to the fair-book for this one. The answer? Three, actually. Plus four that are Western or English. However, I'd bet that most of the riders in those Western/English classes are Western. At least two are specifically English, and one other of the Western/English actually has the English name for it too...
Why so predominately Western?

The technical term for the cannon bone was....

The only option that got votes- the metacarpus. Now onto the neck vertebrae. ;)

My New Horse

Trapezoids

What do trapezoids have to do with horse judging?

You use them to tell the balance of the horse!

"And you do this, HOW?" You might be asking. (Yes, I realized I just started a sentence with and. And I don't care.)

First, in case you don't know, a trapezoid has a short line on top, two sides slanted out 45 degrees, and a longer line attaching to those two lines on the bottom.

Sorta like horses!

You draw a line from the withers to the loin; that's called the topline, and it's supposed to be short. See? There's the short line on top.

Then, the shoulders are supposed to be sloping 45 degrees, to allow length of stride. There you have your two sloping lines.

The underline is a line drawn from the bottom of one sloping line to the bottom of the other.

And there you have a trapezoid!

Digestive system of the horse

What system of the horse is complicated and digests food? If you said the digestive system, you’re correct. If you guessed the solar system, you aren’t. The first part of the digestive system is the mouth. The lips grab the food, which is called prehension. Once in the mouth, the teeth crush, grind and tear the food, which is called mastication, otherwise known as chewing. The salivary glands produce saliva, which softens it. Next, it goes down the esophagus. At the bottom of the esophagus, it goes through the cardiac sphincter, which is very strong, which makes it so the horse can’t throw up, to the stomach, where it gets churned with digestive juices, then it goes through the pyloric sphincter to the small intestine, which is split into three parts: the duodenum, the jejunum, and the ileum. Most of the digestion of nutrients occurs here, since it’s the longest part of the digestive tract, 70 feet. Off to the large intestine it goes, which is composed of the cecum, the large colon, and the small colon. Finally, it goes to the rectum and gets expelled through the anus. This complicated system is a testimony to our wonderful creator, who created the whole solar system, which is, by the way, not in the horse. ;)