A bit of nothing
Well, not much has been going on here in Vegas land. But, now that the week is almost up, I’ve got a few things to post about. On Sunday, I drove to Pahrump to audit a cavaletti clinic. I had signed up to take Amber to the third one, but it’s a three part clinic so going to the first two was mandatory if you wanted to be in the third. So, I audited the first session, and will be hauling Amber for a private lesson of sessions 1 and 2 before we join a group for 3.
There were a lot of grids up, and it got me excited and happy because I don’t have anything like this right now. I plan on investing in poles in the coming months so we can really get familiar with footwork before we start hopping over fences. So this had me excited.
Rolex 2017: Stadium
I got there about halfway through the jog up, and paused to watch Clark Montgomery lunging Loughen Glen in one of the arenas. It was really cool to watch them. Since I had never seen a jog up before, it was great to see all the outfits and how beautiful the horses looked. Everyone laughed at Maxime’s horse. He was trotting away and nearly pulling Maxime along like “Let’s get on with it!” Then Boyd Martin appeared very close to where I was standing and was playing with what I believe was his son. A girl came over and met him, and once she left I heard one of the ladies talking to him say that he’d probably made her whole trip. And he probably had. And I just kept my head down, not looking at him and trying to be invisible.
Chicken, remember?
After that was done, I headed down to a booth that I’d seen that did engraved plates. I had asked them before and they did plates for halters other than their own – which was really convenient. While you could tell their halters had better quality leather than the one I bought (more on my haul later), they were of course more expensive. At the moment I couldn’t pay that much for a halter after all the other things I’d bought, so I stuck with getting plates.
Rolex 2017: Cross Country
My legs were on fire when I stepped out of bed. Not only had I walked far more than I did at home, but walking on all the asphalt and concrete in only sneakers was apparently not a good mix. I was so slow, but the two girls I’d met the previous day were absolute champs in slowing down for me so I could keep up with them walking the course before it all started. I met up with them at the head of the lake, then walked all the way to the finish with them.
We ended up somewhere near the back of the stables since that’s where the start/end point was, and it was aaaaaaaaall uphill to try to make it back to the course much less the Hollow.
Thankfully, one of the golf cart drivers took pity on the three of us. He drove the two girls to the paddocks to watch the TB presentation and he took me a ways further before I started my trek to the Hollow. I got there just in time to place my towel and sit my ass down for some much needed leg rest. Got my camera out, my food, and then we all proceeded to be quite confused when it was 9:35/9:40 and no horses had shown up yet. A few of us, myself included, grabbed the live stream and loaded it on our phones so we could watch the combinations as they came to the Hollow and then proceed to take pictures.
Rolex 2017: Dressage 1 & 2
What better way to start off a blog than with my trip to Rolex? Granted, it’s…3 weeks late, but better late than never, right?
Last year, after watching the live feed of Rolex and getting through most of the summer watching the ERM series and Olympics, I decided to cross off one of my bucket list items: going to a top horse event. It’s a bit non-specific for a reason. Tastes change, and I’ve already seen some good, big events – Silver Dollar show and High Roller Reining classic here in Vegas, and the NRHA Futurity in OKC. But Rolex is something completely different. It’s different than just the plain jumper shows, and to be quite honest, the hunter/western pleasure shows are just kind of….boring and quiet after you watch a screaming, yelling round of reining. But Rolex is something else entirely. So, I put away money, I planned, and one dream on my bucket list is now crossed off.
About Me
Hi everyone! This blog originated out of my desire to review horse products. I don’t have tons of money, so I’ve always tried to find reviews on products and do good research on what’s the best. Some things have reviews, but many many others don’t. So I wanted to write a blog with as many reviews as possible for people who don’t have a lot of money, but would like quality products – English or Western, for a good price. It has since morphed into a desire to document my (struggles, goofiness and bumpy) entrance into the world of eventing.
As of this post I am 26, and am lucky enough that my mom and I have our two horses on our own property. It’s absolutely wonderful to have them so close, and we love being able to be in charge of all of their meals and care. As for my experiences, I’ve ridden everything from hunters to pleasure horses to reiners and jumpers and ranch horses helping to brand calves, but have been riding western for the past 10+ years. That included a 2 year job as an assistant reining trainer before making my way back to Vegas to continue being an adult amateur. I love learning about many different disciplines, and at some point I’d like to dabble in a bit of cutting, some more dressage (a must in eventing but I find it fascinating lol), reined cowhorse, and really anything horsey. I never want to stop learning and believe that every discipline has good aspects of horse training that can help you get a really well-rounded horse.
Jellybean
This post (and this whole blog) is dedicated to my fat-n-happy, chunker, tank, trouble-maker, cuts-herself-up-all-the-time, can’t-get-along-too-well-with-others, orange sorrel mare Amber – a.k.a. Jellybean. She is 88.85% Foundation Quarter Horse with lineage to Paddys Irish Whiskey and Peptoboonsmal (yes I was a weirdo and calculated it lol).
Quick Stats:
Registered name: Beans Paddy Lena
Nicknames: Amber and Jellybean for every day; Stupid, Mare and Missy when she’s being stubborn; Baby girl, Honey, Sweet Pea when I’m feeling particularly happy; Hankie’s Tankie (dam’s name is Mylanta’s Hankie) and Hippopotamus and Hippopotamoose’s Caboose when she’s very muscled (ie fat lol)
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