WW: Show, Sunburn and Smiles

T2, 2nd place

T1, 1st place

My favorite shot

Draco 

Foal Pool Winner 2018

How about this, instead of closing the foal pool to begin the wait, I get to announce the winner.

Little man has been fun to watch on camera. I can't wait to see him unfold and fill out.

Using Mom as a scratching post

Tawe before with big belly

Tawe after, amazing huh

So here is how the scoring worked:
The pool started with 20 points
The number of days away from the actual birth date were subtracted from the 20
Correct Gender was +1 point
Incorrect Gender was -1 point
Correct Chrome/Color Bonus +1 each
No points were lost for incorrect chrome/color guesses
Stockings/Socks were counted as the same

And here are the results:

In a year with so many mares going longer, Tawe bucked the trend and definitely threw off the pool. Congrats to Betsy! Please email me at equinpilot@yahoo.com 3 photos we can choose from for your cross stitch and your info I can forward to Two Horse Tack.
And here is a coupon for everyone!

And that is it for 2018. Hopefully we will have a bigger Pool next year!

Impatient Foal, It's a Boy!

Well before the pool could close, the foal is here. Tawe looked like she would go earlier than 340 days so the breeder gave me the camera information to prep for foal watch. Wednesday before bed I checked her and she was munching hay.

Yesterday when I checked her she was circling her stall. I wish I had kept watching because 2hrs later she had a boy. And of course my phone was still on vibrate from when I was training at work, so I missed the birth announcement. Little man is just like his dad, impatient to come out.

As soon as I saw the message, I looked at the camera and saw him up and moving. He is a big boy with good bone and angles. Plus he has chrome, blaze, 2 front socks and 2 hind stockings. At first his color was thought to be buckskin, but we think he will end up smokey black like his sister.

He is super friendly. It will be fun to watch him develop. I will post the foal pool results soon. The early arrival definitely hit the scores hard.

Foal Pool Entry Extension

Okay, technically the pool closed on the 5th, but I am extending it because Two Horse Tack may be providing a prize this year too.  I will let you all know the details when I know. So entries are accepted until the 17th.

http://equinpilot.blogspot.com/2018/05/foal-pool-20-ready-set-guess.html

In other news, we have a positive pregnancy for one of the mares bred last month. Unfortunately the older mare did not take. She will try again this week and hopefully the third mare will be ready too.

And now I can say that Roscoe did not do what Lauren wanted during the lesson because I made Comrade do the exercise and it felt really different. Comrade volunteered to give me my birthday ride and it was great. He has no problem moving his hind end and the exercise began to loosen his pole where he holds  his tension. I seriously have to remember to let go of the inside rein and we will improve. He ended the ride with a long, floppy neck. For Comrade that is always an achievement.

The Castleberry Boys

Roscoe and Rosemary have the make up show in a couple weeks and then I plan on handing the reins to Lauren for the July show. Now I just need to get the mystery problem figured out in my CRV so I know how much I have to pay to the mechanic and what I have left to pay for training rides. Between rain and car bills it is putting a kink in my horse riding plans.

15m Front, 20m Back

We have had a slew of rain and thunderstorms, which made getting a lesson at home precarious. So I asked Lauren whether we should reschedule or trailer in. She was up for either and we opted to trailer in. With their indoor the lesson could happen.

Uh, do you realize it is raining out there?

And thundering and lightning

As we drove closer and closer, the clouds got darker. I asked for it to wait until we had them tacked and in the indoor. Ha, joke was on me. It poured, thundered and lightning lit the sky as I tacked up Roscoe. My saddle was soaked by time we made it to the barn. I really need a rain cover. Roscoe was hyper reactive... for a Cob and spooked at a bunch of stuff. He gets that way when his hormones are high. I took him over to start walking the indoor. Peggy went to rescue Rosemary out of the trailer and tuck her in a stall Lauren let us use.

Camera hog :)

I planned to have Lauren tune up Roscoe, but I ended up riding him the whole time. She asked what we were working on as Roscoe and I spooked around the arena. I told her our focus was getting him off my inside leg. She laughed as Roscoe was scared of the stallion in the mirror. Lauren said I needed my "cozy" leg rather than my normal "off" leg considering his mood. Once we were warmed up, she put us on a 15m circle in the middle of the arena.

Mother and Son

Then the fun began. She told me to ride him straight on the 15m and then once the circle was established, I had push his hind end out to the 20m circle. That was hard. At times I had to tap him with the whip and/ or turn my heel. The hardest was to ride "ugly" and do things that are only for schooling. Lauren told me to over bend him to the inside, then release. I knew when Roscoe and I were getting it when he slowed and swished his tail. I don't know if we managed what Lauren wanted, but the change was amazing. Roscoe was better in the poll and stepping under with the inside hind. Lauren said he was straighter in his nose. He was energized by working away from home, but the humidity took its toll. We only touched on canter since he was running out of steam. When I asked him to step under at canter, he realized how hard he had been working. Still Lauren was able to see the winter work we did and the improvement in his transitions. So now she wants him to pick up canter out of different  trots. This way he will learn to transition from slow or quick. Now if the rain would stop, we could actually do our homework.

Mother's Day/ Rosemary's B-day gift

Mom and Rosemary worked on activating her hind end. I missed the start because Roscoe decided the wash rack was too scary. When I made it back, Lauren had them slow the trot, but stay active, on corners and then immediately push forward on the straights. Lauren was greedy and wanted more from Rosemary. Mom has asked her to slow before, but this was more than she ever asked. Rosemary looked great. The work allowed her to have easier canter transitions. Mom improved too as her confidence with Rosemary's canter grew. I wish I took  video, dang rain messed me up. So no lesson media. Rosemary turned 11 years old and she just keeps getting better.

Get your guesses in for the Foal Pool, entries close on the 5th. Eventually this monsoon will end and we can look forward to baby pictures.

2016 Cross Stitch