Sunday, February 22, 2009
West Edmonton Mall
While we were in Canada we took a day trip up to Edmonton, about 3 hours to the north. We visited Jesson's Aunt Kirsti and Uncle Brad as well as their little girl Skye. While there, we went to the West Edmonton Mall, which has a pirate ship, water park, skating rink, and much more all inside the mall! Below are a few pictures from "West Ed" as it is known.
Christmas Day 2008
Christmas Day was spent with the Novaks here in Tampa. The day after Christmas we flew to Calgary to spend 10 days with Jesson's family. Once again, we are so thankful that we were able to spend time around the holidays with both families!
Ryan had fun with his wrapping....
...and shared some of it with Nano!
The boys all put together Ryan's new computer.
Buddy hugged Mom, it was a rare event!
One of the gifts I gave Jesson was personalized Jones soda Rootbeer.
Jesson and I always take a day and go to Banff when we are up in Canada. On our way back to Calgary, we stopped in the small town of Canmore and got dessert at a small French restaurant. It was good and, due to the poor weather, we were the only ones there so we had excellent service!
We had strawberry crepes with chocolate sauce...
...and maple terrine with maple sauce.
Jesson had the change to play hockey the night before we left. He has not gained weight, those are hockey pads!
Ryan had fun with his wrapping....
...and shared some of it with Nano!
The boys all put together Ryan's new computer.
Buddy hugged Mom, it was a rare event!
One of the gifts I gave Jesson was personalized Jones soda Rootbeer.
Jesson and I always take a day and go to Banff when we are up in Canada. On our way back to Calgary, we stopped in the small town of Canmore and got dessert at a small French restaurant. It was good and, due to the poor weather, we were the only ones there so we had excellent service!
We had strawberry crepes with chocolate sauce...
...and maple terrine with maple sauce.
Jesson had the change to play hockey the night before we left. He has not gained weight, those are hockey pads!
Christmas Eve Ride
On Christmas Eve Nano came out to the barn with me and took a spin around the pasture with Reno and I, and then decided that he needed to ride on Reno as well! He puts his front paws up on Reno's front legs and I can lean down and pick him up and put him in the saddle. Reno is a very good and patient boy to stand still for all of this! Jesson came out with us to take a few pictures. It was a great way to spend the morning.
It's a race! I wonder who will win...
Reno congratulating Nano on a well run race!
Time to go back to the barn. Nano was too tired to walk!
The face of a very happy dog!
It's a race! I wonder who will win...
Reno congratulating Nano on a well run race!
Time to go back to the barn. Nano was too tired to walk!
The face of a very happy dog!
Christmas Light Date Night
Around the middle of December, Jesson called me at work and told me that he had planned a date night and I should pick him up at the mall and we would go out. He kept what we were doing a surprise. He had and address and put it into our GPS and I just had to drive wherever it told me to go! After a little over an hour of driving, we arrived at a botanical garden in Largo. I was a little confused because I thought you had to look at flowers during the day. I got the idea when I saw this sign greeting us:
The entire garden had been decorated with Christmas lights and we spent an hour or so strolling through the garden and looking at all the different lights, like the gingerbread house below:
My favorite was the polar bear pulling an eskimo on a sled:
Jesson liked the turtle the best:
Someone was nice enough to take our picture under a gazebo:
Despite the many signs posted around, we never had any trouble with gators:
The entire garden had been decorated with Christmas lights and we spent an hour or so strolling through the garden and looking at all the different lights, like the gingerbread house below:
My favorite was the polar bear pulling an eskimo on a sled:
Jesson liked the turtle the best:
Someone was nice enough to take our picture under a gazebo:
Despite the many signs posted around, we never had any trouble with gators:
Monday, December 8, 2008
GO GATORS!
They did it! They beat Alabama in the SEC Championship game and now have a shot at the National Title! Gotta love them Gators! You know where we'll be on January 8th!!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Merry Christmas!
The Bateman's sent us adorable hats for the dogs. So naturally, Jesson being his Father's son, we had a photo shoot! I am 110% sure that we had WAY more fun than the dogs did. Here's what happened:
Finally, we had to reward them with the bribes that made them sit still in the first place!
The dogs say "Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the hats!"
First we had to get them to all line up in front of the Christmas Tree so they could get dressed:
Then we took several embarassing pictures:
Finally, we had to reward them with the bribes that made them sit still in the first place!
The dogs say "Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the hats!"Sunday, October 5, 2008
"E" stands for Eliminated
Well, Reno and I competed in our first show since April. It was a doozy! It took place at Fannin Hill Farm in Brooksville, FL. It was a 3-Phase competition which meant that Reno and I had to compete in three completely different phases. They are:
1. Dressage: Takes place on the flat (meaning no jumping). You have to memorize a set pattern around a ring. You change speed between walk, trot, and canter at designated points throughout the ring. You are judged on rhythm, smoothness, and your horses submission (this just means it shouldn't look like the two of you are having a fist fight trying to get around the arena). Overall, it should look smooth, balanced, and effortless. Here is a link to the pattern I had to ride and the layout of the ring if anyone is interested.
2. Stadium Jumping: A course of 10-15 jumps are set up in an arena. You have a designated time to get over the jumps in the pre-determined order. If you go over time, you get faults. If you knock any jumps down, fall off, or your horse stops at any of the jumps, you get faults. Faults are bad, you don't want any. Here is an example of a typical course. These jumps were higher than what I was doing, and the layout of any two courses is never the same, but this is a good example. There is no set way to get to each of the jumps. It is up to the rider to walk the course ahead of time and decide which way will be the quickest while also giving their horse ample time to analyze the jump and make it over cleanly.
3. Cross Country: A course of 10-15 jumps are set up over approximately 1500 meters. Again, you have a designated amount of time to get over all of them in the pre-determined order. These jumps are different though. They do not fall down. They are made up of logs, walls, and other solid objects. You have to be very careful with your approach to these because they are unforgiving. Here is an example of a low level jump (the type I do) and a very high level jump (what you see professionals and Olympians doing).
So, with the 3-Phase 101 completed, I can now tell you how Reno and I did. Placement-wise, the answer is not very well. But, overall, we accomplished what I wanted us to for this outing. It gave us a great place to start for show season and helped me outline goals for the coming months. So, without further ado, our results:
Dressage: This was the first phase we competed in. We received a score of 39, which is ok. A winning score would have been around 29. We were not the best, but we were not the worst either. The only bad part was, coming around one turn, Reno stepped out of the ring for a split second. This immediately eliminated us from the competition and took us out of the placings. We were still allowed to complete the other two phases, however, it was without any chance to place. Reno actually performed much better than I expected him to. And again, it gave us a great baseline for the upcoming show season.
Stadium Jumping: We jumped everything cleanly (meaning he did not knock anything down and he did not refuse) however, we were a little over time so we received 6 time faults. I was not upset about this (obviously, we'd been eliminated already, what's to get upset about!) but I felt we took the appropriate amount of time for us. I made sure Reno had a good experience and did not feel rushed to the jumps. We will get faster with each and every competition, but this was a good starting place for us.
Cross Country: I was least pleased with our performance in this phase. Of the 12 jumps, Reno refused 5 of them, meaning he did not jump them the first time I presented them to him. This meant I had to circle around and try again. This took up valuable time and was also not a very confidence building experience for either of us. This will be an area we focus on over the next few months. Unfortunately, this is also the hardest area to practice. The reason being, while you may make a horse very comfortable with the jumps that you have access to from your own farm, Cross Country is all about the horse being brave over fences he has never seen before at a place he's never been to. The horse must be able to see a fence and jump over it a few seconds later. Any hesitation typically results in a refusal. So, we will most likely have to trailer to other farms and competition venues to brush up on this.
And that was pretty much my entire Saturday. I had to be at the farm at 5:30am to feed Reno breakfast and get him on the trailer, and we didn't get back to the farm until about 6:30pm. Jesson was able to come and cheer us on for the dressage and stadium portions. I always feel better when he is at a competition with me, he has a very calming effect. Below is a picture of Reno and I over jump #6 on the Cross Country jump, the Tire Jump (for obvious reasons!)
1. Dressage: Takes place on the flat (meaning no jumping). You have to memorize a set pattern around a ring. You change speed between walk, trot, and canter at designated points throughout the ring. You are judged on rhythm, smoothness, and your horses submission (this just means it shouldn't look like the two of you are having a fist fight trying to get around the arena). Overall, it should look smooth, balanced, and effortless. Here is a link to the pattern I had to ride and the layout of the ring if anyone is interested.
2. Stadium Jumping: A course of 10-15 jumps are set up in an arena. You have a designated time to get over the jumps in the pre-determined order. If you go over time, you get faults. If you knock any jumps down, fall off, or your horse stops at any of the jumps, you get faults. Faults are bad, you don't want any. Here is an example of a typical course. These jumps were higher than what I was doing, and the layout of any two courses is never the same, but this is a good example. There is no set way to get to each of the jumps. It is up to the rider to walk the course ahead of time and decide which way will be the quickest while also giving their horse ample time to analyze the jump and make it over cleanly.
3. Cross Country: A course of 10-15 jumps are set up over approximately 1500 meters. Again, you have a designated amount of time to get over all of them in the pre-determined order. These jumps are different though. They do not fall down. They are made up of logs, walls, and other solid objects. You have to be very careful with your approach to these because they are unforgiving. Here is an example of a low level jump (the type I do) and a very high level jump (what you see professionals and Olympians doing).
So, with the 3-Phase 101 completed, I can now tell you how Reno and I did. Placement-wise, the answer is not very well. But, overall, we accomplished what I wanted us to for this outing. It gave us a great place to start for show season and helped me outline goals for the coming months. So, without further ado, our results:
Dressage: This was the first phase we competed in. We received a score of 39, which is ok. A winning score would have been around 29. We were not the best, but we were not the worst either. The only bad part was, coming around one turn, Reno stepped out of the ring for a split second. This immediately eliminated us from the competition and took us out of the placings. We were still allowed to complete the other two phases, however, it was without any chance to place. Reno actually performed much better than I expected him to. And again, it gave us a great baseline for the upcoming show season.
Stadium Jumping: We jumped everything cleanly (meaning he did not knock anything down and he did not refuse) however, we were a little over time so we received 6 time faults. I was not upset about this (obviously, we'd been eliminated already, what's to get upset about!) but I felt we took the appropriate amount of time for us. I made sure Reno had a good experience and did not feel rushed to the jumps. We will get faster with each and every competition, but this was a good starting place for us.
Cross Country: I was least pleased with our performance in this phase. Of the 12 jumps, Reno refused 5 of them, meaning he did not jump them the first time I presented them to him. This meant I had to circle around and try again. This took up valuable time and was also not a very confidence building experience for either of us. This will be an area we focus on over the next few months. Unfortunately, this is also the hardest area to practice. The reason being, while you may make a horse very comfortable with the jumps that you have access to from your own farm, Cross Country is all about the horse being brave over fences he has never seen before at a place he's never been to. The horse must be able to see a fence and jump over it a few seconds later. Any hesitation typically results in a refusal. So, we will most likely have to trailer to other farms and competition venues to brush up on this.
And that was pretty much my entire Saturday. I had to be at the farm at 5:30am to feed Reno breakfast and get him on the trailer, and we didn't get back to the farm until about 6:30pm. Jesson was able to come and cheer us on for the dressage and stadium portions. I always feel better when he is at a competition with me, he has a very calming effect. Below is a picture of Reno and I over jump #6 on the Cross Country jump, the Tire Jump (for obvious reasons!)
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