Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Vegas Does the English


Barbie horse
I have toodled around on Vegas a lot this year. Always bareback, always not asking for much. She is the kind of horse that doesn't really care if she works or not. Most of the time, she would rather not, so I haven't worried about her too much. Well, I had this itch to take the mare out and actually put in a working ride.
Cob sized 5-point is almost too small on her. Sigh.
This was the first time I rode her with all of the new eventing tools I have gathered in the past year and a half. She was a pleasure show horse, so she was taught to always be super soft, do not look for contact, travel on a loose rein, etc. So, needless to say, she was super confused when I asked her to move forward into contact. She was trying pretty hard to figure it all out, but she was getting frustrated. I was also asking her to carry her head higher than before, and that was also new.
Trying really hard to get under herself. It is hard when you are built like a weener dog.
I kept laughing because she is sooooo different than riding Bacon. That is probably an obvious statement, but I never really payed attention to that when I messed around on her bareback. She has such a long back, a short neck and is soooo damn wiggly. I don't remember her being that wiggly. She is so heavy on the forehand I feel like I am going to go ass over kettle.  When I made the comment about the difference, he said "Well yeah, you went from riding a giraffe to riding a hippo."
Pretty girl.
Technically, she is not as round as a hippo, and definitely longer than one.

The major difference was as soon as I stopped riding her, she would quit. I had to work so hard to get her to go and try. My leg looks pretty crappy in all of the photos and that is partially because I was really trying to dig my heels into her the whole time. Spurs would have really helped. After riding her, it felt like I had just got done riding at an event derby. And it was only 25 minutes. I was exhausted. I was maybe hoping to take her to the jumper show this weekend to ground poles and maybe cross rails, but I think I am going to skip that idea. She was always so reliable at all of her other shows and I can always hop on her and just go, but I am not really setting her up for success there.
Oh, it was awkward.
I think she looks best in her western tack. She was bred to be a cutter, and she most certainly looks more the part of that than anything else. That is not to say I won't be riding her in the english get up, but one day I want to take her out and test out her cow. She is still pretty cute though!

This is a little bit more appropriate. 

16 comments:

  1. There is SUCH a difference in Vegas in English vs. Western tack! English Vegas is all, "Ohhh cute little barbie horse!" and then Western Vegas is more like, "WOW Serious cow horse gon' do some work now."

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    1. She can get to work when she needs to, and that is almost always when in western wear. Apparently she doesn't like being a barbie!

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  2. Love her in western tack! Pleasure horses like her are really fun in their own way :)

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    1. They certainly are! I can just hop on and go, always.

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  3. Omg. Vegashippo can come live with me. She'd fit in great!

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    1. Haha! My husband might like that plan, but I think I will keep her. For now ;)

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  4. The problem here is that there is nothing unicorny about this getup.

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    1. This is the most unicorny horse I have. Ooo, and now you just formed my next idea for a post...

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  5. lol she's such a pretty girl!!

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  6. Um I think she's ADORABLE in english tack and I kind of want to steal her, except I'm not tiny and cute like you.

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  7. We need another rodeo to take take western Vegas to!

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    1. Ummm, there will be no rodeo Vegas, only reining or cutting Vegas!

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  8. It's funny how you can see a complete difference in how Vegas feels about the situation ahaha. Either way... Gorgeous. Even if it's awkward gorgeous. ^.^

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  9. She's such a beautiful mare <3

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