Schnauzer Sunday (Late!) and Media Monday!

The weekend flew by and I leave for New Orleans tomorrow morning so this is going to be it for the week! I totally missed posting the Schnauzer Sunday so am doing this now. 🙂

How cute are those guys? They are being kenneled the first part of this week due to Mark working all day and then he will spring them out on Thursday evening/Friday morning to spend the weekend with Mark. Until then Mark is in charge of Remus and the cat (ut oh right?). And it poured its ass off last night (still pouring). Mud everywhere. I will miss my dogs and horse and cat (and Mark too oops)! I will be back next Monday so it is a LONG time to be away.

Luckily the weather is cooperating (well, not today) and it will be pretty cool each day (and even low 40s tonight and next weekend!). One day of 86-87 on Thursday but I think Remus will be on the ala carte stalling option where his stalls are open and he can go in and out. Mark will feed and give him hay as needed and check his water but given that my horse is such a house-trained animal (Seriously, a post on its own one day) he should not have too much stall work to do!!

Onto the show! It was very crisp in the morning but by the time my classes rolled around it was a bit warm. But we showed. I did three classes and they weren’t really ribboned as they were a Judge My Ride aspect which was really cooler than I thought it would be!

Remus made fans left and right with people saying OMG I love your horse.  Of course Remus was the pied piper with all the kids. I swear I think one or two would of taken him if they could (and a few moms as well!)! He also helped himself to the Chick Fila bag at the University of Memphis Equestrian Team table. It was hilarious. There were two LARGE tents right there which is why I led him over there, but he thought the food smells were more interesting. Oh horse. Needless to say lots of giggles over him. Thanks to the University of Memphis Equestrian Team girls who videoed my rides. I didn’t even know these people but they were very nice about it. I will donate something to them once I get back!

Our first class was flat equitation (HA yeah, all the hunters and then me coming in there looking like an eventer oh well). But Remus was PRETTY DAMN PERFECT. We had to post trot, sit trot, canter and stuff like that and Remus never really even hesitated. And to think when you do dressage you are by yourself, I was really impressed Remus was ad adaptable as he was! Like we cantered both ways (he went like into both leads with nary a thought? WTF) and we had to canter a WHILE OMG.  The judge lined us up after and even though there were quite a few horses there, singled me out first and was like a drill sergeant (she was nice though)! “What do you do with him, Where have you trained, How long have you been in this area, and what is his breeding?” I was like ummm.

She went on saying how he was a wonderful guy and so willing and she just adored him. She said you can do great things with him. He is so nice. I was like floored. Go Remus. She then went through all the others and was very complimentary to them but she just kept smiling at Remus.

Poppy had signed me for the jumpers as well which is hilarious but it was a schooling opp for all. The jump course had me so effing confused (I usually only have one course to learn not TWO) so I had to learn it on the fly (it had a few ROLL BACKS OMG WE GONNA DIE). And then I learned it and Poppy said is it too hard I will change it and  I said, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I just learned it. By then I had them in stitches, all my fellow riders (they thought the same thing but didn’t want to say it). But the way the course was run you did the first six jumps and if clear you to do the last 4 jumps (one of which was a two stride). Remus and I kind of like the break in the middle. But we were clear (if not fast HA). He was so good considering we did a course last week (this course was much more twisty) and otherwise have done no courses. I was very happy with him and the judge still loved him and kept asking me more questions!  (BTW Remus looked at the flowers (2nd jump) but barely even blinked over the liverpool??). First liverpool though (Even tho it was tiny it was SPOOKY)!

I stood there after I was done and watched and debated cancelling the second jump course. Remus was tired, I was hot and sweaty. My abs and quads were killing me from riding two days in a row and jumping!!

The other trainer was there and I said something and she was like oh you need to do it and I was like I don’t know the course and she went through it with me right there (Neither of these coaches got paid to do this with me I was very impressed how NICE everyone was). So then she said well if you don’t want to do it you don’t have to do it. And I was like damn I have learned the course now. Might as well do it.

I don’t have video of the second course but am glad. Even though Remus did great he did get a rail at a white vertical. But we jumped the liverpool TWICE (Never done that before and Remus never even blinked). How cool is my horse? Like seriously my heart may have swelled ten times larger that day.  Going to the last jump I literally was on the buckle showing them how wild my horse was (not). They were all cheering Remus by then. What a guy. It was fun and I would do it again. Great day (and it was done by 3 so even better)! Also Poppy warned me now that she knows we can do stuff like this my lessons are going to get harder. OOPS!

Thanks to Emily for editing my long ass flat video so no one fell asleep bored! Have a good week all! See you next week!