Jumping Grids- Pony Club Style!

 Today was a beautiful early fall day to ride! The kids had a Pony Club lesson and worked on "grids". These are brilliant obstacles, several placed one after another that make the horse think, make the rider balance and point out all sorts of riding faults that need to be corrected in order to move forward.
Middlest was mounted on her athletic, but sometimes fussy mare, Nelle. The grid is excellent for making Nelle slow down and think about her feet!

 Youngest was on his new partner, Zac. They are doing so nicely together, and are genuinely fond of each other. In this partnership, the grid is perfect for making Youngest balance and stay with Zac over fences.
I like this sweet pony so well that I took him on a Hunter Pace yesterday, through woods and fields, jumping the whole way. We had a fine time together, and I think I can try to take Zac out with the  Fox Hunt!

  In the photo below, you can see the instructor has asked Youngest to turn his hands upside down on the reins. It is a nice tool for allowing a following hand to the horses head and mouth (with a bit on the other end that can potentially cause pain if you don't have soft, following hands!)

Middlest and Nelle take the middle section of the grid, a double "bounce" to a one-stride. The "bounce" is what you call two fences placed in such proximity as to make the landing stride the same exact stride as the take-off. You can see Nelle is going to place her hind feet right where she needs them to be in order to take off over the next fence.

Youngest is working on his balance over the bounce in the grid. He is doing a nice job of letting Zac have his head and use his body in the bounce. But you can see Youngest's balance is too far forward, with his heels lifted, knees pinching and hip angle open. This is why there is going to be a nice grid in our front field this week. If you're interested in watching a kid find his center of gravity...he is learning fast!

After a big day and night yesterday for both kids on the band field, I am so proud of them for switching hats and saddling up today (and, a bit jealous...I didn't get to ride today! )

Marching Band Season Begins!

The first Marching Band Contest of Middlest's Senior Year! For Huz and I it is season number 7, I believe. The first contest usually means a pretty late summer sunset and evening, but last night it meant gloves, a scarf and a blanket. Fall has arrived in Ohio.
Middlest blows the whistle and begins to march forward. She is easy to spot in glowing white, and followed by a host in blue and gold.

 She then stands atop a large platform, making her quite visible, but after her salute to the judges and the crowd, she turns her back to us for the music parts.
 This year the band is performing "Pictures at an Exhibition" music by Mussorgsky.

The Salute

    

She starts to conduct and the band begins to move in constant complicated forms all about the field, music rising and falling to great heights,  and who should be found playing right about there- in front of his sister? 

Yep, that's Youngest! Playing in his first band contest. As I write this, I realize it seems like I'm surprised to find him there. Well, I'm not. Band started practicing in earnest in mid-July. 

When the last note finished, the Drum Major turned about to face the large crowd, and her smile said it all- they had played well, marched well, and gotten the season off to a fine beginning.

 Some time later, as the sun had set, the Field Commanders (Drum Majors) had all been called trackside to line up for the awards. This can be really fun, or disappointing, depending on your scores.
Our band delegates, which are led by the Drum Majors, but include student leaders from different band sections all march in perfect formation to the awards ceremony. They are typically the only band that does this, but boy, do they look professional!

 Here, the Drum Majors step out to salute and receive their first award for Best Auxiliary Class A (that would be the best flag-wielding Color Guard.)

But the awards just kept coming! Best Percussion, Best Overall Music, Best Overall General Effect...Best Overall Marching Band! 

 When they finished handing out trophies, there was a haul of 7. Seven of the nine awards given.

But, as rewarding as this pile of trophies may be, the "icing on the cake" is the ratings given by the judges panel. They award bands a "1" "2" or "3". The "1",or "Superior" rating, is earned by only the top scoring bands and receiving a "1"  means you have qualified for Ohio State Marching Band Finals.
At the end of all the trophy awards, they announce what bands have earned a "Superior Rating" and qualified for finals. There was only one band qualifying last night. They worked hard, they deserved it, and I am so very proud!

Family Photo Project- August 2015

Month #8 of the FPP, and Eldest is home! She has spent the last three months as a sailing instructor and camp counselor at Sandy Hill Camp in North East, Maryland. Nice to have all the birds back in the nest, for a day, before college begins again.

And, for fun, a picture in the "back 40"....(or 400.)

Welcome back, Eldest. So happy to have your smiling face back in the Family Photo Project!

Huz has 50.

50.
Grains of salt? Leaves on a tree? Revolutions of a wheel?
Children in your classroom? Hamburgers on your plate? Stalls to clean? Chickens in your bathtub?
50.
Of course it is just a number, so what follows "50" is what counts. Or, when the thing that follows is "years", maybe it is what comes before that counts.  What have you made out of what I'd like to think of as "the first 50 years of your life?" The first 50 are technically difficult. There is growing up, and the fashion decisions of your teen years. There is choosing a career, or three, finding a spouse and a house and raising babies of your own. There are a lot of pitfalls, and opportunities to choose unwisely, suffer arrest, or at least arrested development. Most of us have trudged through all these life moments by the time your DL ( check if it's expired) says you're 50. And if you have gotten there, with few regrets, well done.
Huz is 50 years. And, I sure hope he's pleased. He's made top notch work of the first 50, and this weekend, our PCDC ("Pickaway County Dining Club") met at Cowfeathers to toast the golden boy.

 Even Zac came to the party for a bit, just to say "How do you do?" to the guests, as Youngest wished them to be introduced.

We have great friends in Ohio, and this group are particularly good sports. So when Youngest handed out party hats, they obliged, making it look like the "Pickaway County Dunce Convention" instead.

 But, it is hard to resist the allure of looking like a Medieval Princess.

Or attendees of the Wizards Cocktail Party .

Chief Executive Wizard? 

 Nope. Title is taken. 

This one can be whatever she wants to be! Wizard Princess? 

Of course, Birthday Celebrations have cake!

 And candles, singing and wishes!

 Plus, a group photo.

Thank you, friends!  

And, Happy Birthday to my Huz. 

As my Grandpa used to say- and I still hear his voice in my head-  You've done "good", kid. 

School Starts, and a new Equine Chapter begins!

The sun is rising in great swirls of pink, and my babies are off once again to school.

 Middlest heads off to her Senior Year with all it's fun and responsibilities. She is already working on her college applications, which is, again, bittersweet. She stands atop the podium as Head Drum Major of the Golden Sound of the Vikings- working on her 4th year with a State of Ohio Superior Rating, and she finishes high school taking advantage of all the academic possibilities offered. She begins her first College Course in English at Ohio Christian University, and has already poured with glee over the text book. This summer she has worked at learning German and Spanish as well as continuing her French. She is also working on her Dutch alongside her father. Methinks the beauty likes language. 

 And, Youngest, and his big paws, are off to Freshman Year! The Chinese may consider this The Year of the Horse (to my "Hurrahs!") but for Youngest this is The Year of the Student. This year he will get engaged in learning in new ways, n'est pas? His new French teacher is French, he is a marching trumpet in our elite band (under the direction of his sister....) he has his first real science lab "With Bunsen burners and beakers, Mom!" and this year it all counts.

 Can you tell they live outside? This is why air conditioning is useless at Cowfeathers, and we haven't turned it on since our arrival as caretakers of our homeplace. From dawn to dark we are outside, in God's Air Conditioning.

 This weekend, was one of my favorite kinds- a horse weekend. Saturday morning we three (myself and the kiddos) loaded our equine partners on the trailer and headed off to a Hunter Pace. These are one of my favorite horse activities. You arrive when you arrive, you head off on course when you're ready. You ride as a team of two or three, and pick which "pace" you are going to try to match, slow, medium, fast or "Huntsman" which is supersonic. You head off not knowing how long the course is, through fields and woods, streams and banks. You have to watch and follow ribbons so you don't get lost or go off course, and there are jumps along the way. Each Hunter Pace is as different as the organizers wish to make it, and the terrain offers. This one turned out to be about 6 miles long and had 39 jump efforts. My team of Middlest on Nelle, Youngest on Cheez-It and Chaser and I set off declaring ourselves a "medium" paced team, approximately 6 miles an hour. We walked for a while waiting for the next team to set off to catch up to us, as they are great friends, and we went in a pack of 5. Incidentally, there were 120 riders on the pace, the lion-share riding "medium", and our pack of 5 placed 2nd and 3rd. Surprise ribbons are the best!
This was the last ride together for Youngest and Cheez, as after our Pace, we were returning her to her owner.

 I said to someone this week, "Life is a series of wonderful, bittersweet moments." And this is another of those. We have so loved this mare, this Mother Hen. She is a joy, and a pleasure, and a great pony for a young rider. Her next charge will be blessed. She was easy going and always willing to stop and smell the flowers. Youngest was brave and sad to move on. 
 

 But, move on, he has done. Due to the wonderful advent of "College", sometimes great stars are put in our path. Zac is a planet. His owner has headed off to higher learning, and has allowed us to be his caretakers and students for a bit. Zac is a special boy, sweet to the core, smart, willing and his partner has done such a great job of supporting him and learning with him that he is rather accomplished on top of his winning personality. (He's a looker, too. Check out the flying blonde mane!)

 So, Welcome to Cowfeathers, Zac! Youngest is in love already, and I'm excited to watch him learn from this new boy, both in the saddle and out. They came together on Sunday for their first ride as partners, and already starting clicking. There is so much to work on and learn! But, work, they will, in the best way possible- the exhilarating soul-lifting Horsey Way!

Family Photo Project- in the nick of July

It is July 30, the sun is going down, and this is the last time our family will be awake, and together (mostly) this month.
So, as I closed the gate after walking the horses back from the pasture in the cool of the evening, sunset on one side, moon rise on the other, it struck me that the FPP needed to take place- NOW or my perfect record would be ruined in month 7.
I dashed to the house for the camera, called the kids out of the barn, Huz out of the garden, and pulled up a photo Eldest had provided for the July FPP- she being a sailing instructor on the Chesapeake this summer.
In our farm clothes and our farm boots- the Family Photo Project keeping it real.

And, post family photo, our little black dog, in her usual terrorizing Tucker mode was captured on film leaping the pile.

Eye on the jump....

 And Wheeeeee!

Heritage Farm Mini Trial- a reason to run!

Middlest, on Nelle, finishing Cross Country with a smile!

 So, we continue to be on a constant search for the elusive "finished"...with anything. Just like a hamster on a wheel, thinking it is getting somewhere, I'm never quite sure if we are actually achieving anything in this life. Perhaps my blog is a way of marking these things for myself....yes, we have done something. 

 This weekend's  Hamster Achievement is on the horse wheel.

 I will start by saying that Hamster on a Wheel might equally be metaphor-ed as a Dog with a Bone- I started Eventing ( the three part format of Dressage, Cross Country and Show Jumping) well, many years- decades, ago. And, it is such complete joy for me, that I aspire to it still. Plus, I've wanted my children to have to same opportunity. And, although I think I failed with Eldest, Middlest and Youngest have gotten a chance to partake of the cup. It remains to be seen if they become as intoxicated.

 This weekend, we loaded up the equines and traveled to a (relatively) close horse facility that hosted a "Mini Trial". This means all three phases are run on a lower level than typically recognized Events. Also, it was a "Schooling" opportunity, which means we don't take ourselves overly seriously, and are there to learn. It means that "green" or inexperienced horses or riders have a chance to compete without much gravitas. And, if you screw up, just "Do Over!" And, although you may be "eliminated" and not get a score, you do get the learning, or teaching, chance.
I found two big complications to riding in the same Event as your children.
#1- Sometimes you are riding, or prepping for, at the same time your child is riding, and you miss seeing it altogether!
#2- You can't take pictures of your kids and control your horse adequately.
So, thanks to my village that willingly took my camera and shot photos! Merrie, Hamilton, and whomever else picked up my Canon.

Cheez-It, aka, Sonny Girl, waiting her turn. She is a lovely Mother Hen.

 Someone shot this cute photo of McKenna Z. on Joey, warming up for dressage.

 And, my happy Chaser, warming up for Show Jumping, followed by Cross Country. I smile a lot.

My boy is figuring it out. He's starting to have real fun on a course, and not feel freaked out, atall!

See? Still smiling! And prepping to take his first "skinny". ( A very narrow jump).

Youngest takes Show Jump by storm! He had one stop, but asked her to step over the jump, and she complied. Go Team!

After Show Jump, we moved to the Cross Country course. Chaser was a star! Confident and controlled around the whole course, we had a wonderful ride!

And, my boy is having fun.

Note: There are a lot of things going on around him, and he is focused on the next fence, and our communication. He's growing up! And, I'm still smiling.

Youngest and Cheez-It went off on their first real Cross Country course to conquer it! They had one bump in the road, but fixed the issue, and went on. So Proud!

Wheeeeeee!

So, I saw Middlest's dressage ride ( from the back of my horse, feeling a bit whirly) missed her Show Jump, which was clear and well done, from what I hear, and saw all three of Youngest's rides. Not bad mothering from horseback. Plus, I had a jolly good time, myself.
There, a reason for the hamster to continue on the wheel.