Ahhhh... unwinding

 ahhhh... so stressed... panic attack... no breaks on the horse trailer dreams... overwhelmed. burnt out to a crispy fried crisp.. too much to do.. but mike went to the mountains and told me to go riide, so.. that's what i did. ahhhhhh

took dan to ashland (and funny later too).

lovely hack... almost got dumped by flat bad rattling down the way... nice and forward. but now worreid about him tripping ini my get down rope so need a new plan. settled and had a lovely hack after. 

then went to arena and played with WE test and then played with some other fun thiings. cantering too. but really struggle with the stirrups ni the canter WHEN and only when i really have to squeeze to keep him canterng. USE MY SEAT! but i was squeeznig so hard my foot almost came out of my boot! twice! hmm... gonna have to figure this out. but good pony!

then walked back and got pats from callan. not too snarly.

need to do some bodywork... snarly for grooming but did some mfr. then tonight did tuning forks, whcih he liked. :) 

photos: 4-26 unwind

videos: 

Double header

 Lesson with Liz: no stirrups to get the balance and hang of it. hard but not as hard as I thought. then picked up my stirrups, then dropped half hole. then played with it. getting the hang of it. 

best canter ever! So uphill feeling! but I have to help support hiim witih my core. Don't just let him flop around. ;) That's when he falls on his forehand and trips. Literally. Support him. And when I make him be straight and more correct in the canter, it's harder so i have to have a little more leg and support. but he lopes off a smooch now ;) 

trottinig was nice too. Don't post so big... think almost siit the the trot. small post. and sit. but still use my core and lift my core. but much easier to find my balance in it today. and it helped his trot be more of a lope and smoother but still quite powerful and engaged. quite nice. 

don't do too much with my aids... shorter, softer, quieter and longer aids... ask... give him time to answer. I'm piing ponginig him with my aids, all of them. and while ii have to sit to the outside/sink into outside stirrup, I sitll have to ask for bend around my insidie leg. but allow the stretch to the outside. 

oh, and maybe this saddle makes himi so happy because it puts me farther back inii the tack. on his back. in other words... I'm siittiing slightly farther back for hsi caenter of balance and maybe that's allownig him to be so uphill. 

very good boy. didn't do a ton because... double header.

loaded up and hauled to linda's that evening for a EOH lesson with Judy and Teller. He did pretty good though he did eat the gate once and tried to knock over a barrel. And messed with Teller some. And then at the bridge, he got bored and tried to take charge and "lengthen down centerline" to it! Nope! Liked linda a lot! very very helpful and lots of great advice. I defniitely need to read the rules. apparently when you walk the course you have to do it "dressed". no ballcaps. And... "they don't care"... ie... I still have to approach the gate at the center. Just because he's long backed and has a big stride.. they don't care. the rules are rules. beginninig of lesson we did tiny walk... make it smaller... make it smaller...even smaller, but keep walking. that's a half halt. cool! helpful for all the ponies. she made a metronome to play with and got the gaits very pure. also helps keep their attention. 

no whips in EOH. keep him small. He gets big and I lose him (like inii the shallow serpentine). it's hard!! Harder than it looks. it's simple, but not that easy. But lots of fun!

photos: 4-26 new saddle lesson, 4-26 linda lesson  and then lzi and linda videos

New Saddle!!!

 yahoo

mark deliivered them to ashland, though he didn't come ride with us.

beautiful!!

a bit wide on dan stll but hopefully he'll fill out. mark seems confident so yay

fun hack with sharon. gotta get my western sea legs

photos: 4-26 new saddle, and comfo "western saddle start mid april" for the journey to see if it helps

Our Western show Debut!

 and he rocked it!

Bathed then to ashland. good pony hanging out. tacked up and warmed up great. no issues with the bosal at the show. did his test like a rockstar, despite being a little stiff with his flexions. scored a 70.1 or something like that!! Whoo hooo. 

untacked and then hung out chomping hay while I went to shop (and got waylaid by friends and chatted for a good bit). Then retacked up and warmed up again. definitely more tired and it was hot! but put in a good effort and did a good job in his test. Scored a 65.4 which was 0.2 pts higher than judy, so we beat her, but barely. she scored a 68 o her 1-2 test though, so.... she would have beaten us in that one I bet. Both ponies were lovely though! 

success!! and now tomorrow we get our saddles!!!

photos: 4-26 western debut

Evening Ride

Mike went to the track today and won't be home til tomorrow so... after we got back from our vet appointment with Lyric, I fed the ponies and then made dinner for myself. Then I went back out and grabbed Dan for a ride :) The sun was low enough that the arena was in the shade. AHHHH! So much nicer than when it's in the sun! It was fairly pleasant! Except for the insane amount of dust. Ugh. I really need to get some sprinklers for the arena now that I have the water spigots!

 

We had a good ride. And oh!!!! OHHHHHH I GET MY SADDLE SUNDAY MORNING!!!! Yahoo!! Not in time for the Ashland show, but definitely better than any later because I'll be gone next weekend and then the weekend after that is the Jumping Branch Show. So... yahooo! But anyways... I rode in Kaitlyns tonight with the english leathers and the western stirrups. I put my boots on too, just to make sure I didn't get any rubs. It was a little ouchy at times but mostly not too bad. I did have to raise them another hole too! Egads! I'm thinking they may be a hair too short but I felt like I could be more balanced that way. So... who knows! I may drop them back down but I doubt it. 

 

We just practiced both tests. Or at least the parts of both tests. I really need to sit down and memorize them! He was a good boy. He got a bit more quick today.. not sure if it's because I'm more balanced or he felt good or what?? Or felt bad?? But I don't think so. He was just eager and we got some nicer lengthenings too! So yay! Our stretchy work isn't as great but he obviously isn't as "on the bit" in the bosal, so.. oh well. 

He got rinsed but I'm sure he'll need an official bath tomorrow! Funny too. But I am super grateful she was able to get all three of my rides in there! Yay! And then Sunday, I will meet Mark at Ashland and Sharon and I will get our saddles and we can go for a nice leisurely hack! And then Tuesday we have a lesson with Liz and then I might be able to sneak a ride in and then I leave for the NC conference. 

Three holes!!

 Maybe I can't ride western! tried again. switched to my english leathers and had to go up three holes. Though my english leathers were the same length as the fenders. but i think the english saddles have a lot more "meat" to them so they take up more of your thigh maybe, thus shortening the stirrups by default?? 

played briefly but mostly just trying to get my tack right for the show. Going to end up using my english leathers and hope i can fit the western stirrup on them. :) 

photos; three holes

Real Western now!

 Except not for the reason we'd hope! My saddle still hasn't arrived!! Sharon's did.. and her photos of it are beautiful! Mine didn't get to Mark today but I'm hoping that's because it's in Ringold getting the stamp put on the fender! So.. maybe soon! But, I did call in a favor and borrowed Kaitlyn's DP saddle to get me through the show at Ashland. I picked it up this morning and since we had a short day today, I took it for a test ride. 

  

I liked it! It was pretty comfortable and Dan seemed quite happy in it. It actually seemed to fit him quite nicely to start but I ended up making it a hair narrower because at the end of our ride, my pad had slid a tiny bit. I also wore Sharon's boot cut pants to try them out. Plus I didn't want to mark up Kaitlyns saddle with jeans and it's getting hot! 

  

So we headed to the arena. Well, not true. We headed to the XC field and then up and back to the arena for a little warm up walk first and for me to get used to the saddle. The stirrups felt about right at first, but then they felt a little long. But I figured they were supposed to feel long. 

 

So we hit the arena and did some warming up. He felt good. I struggled to sit the trot but posting was fine, though I did feel like my stirrups were too long and I was standing on my toes a bit. We played a little bit and then went and did our Western Dressage Test 1-1 test. And oh gosh, so much easier when you have the arena actually set up and aren't just guessing. And, it isn't a trapezoid. ;) And he was so good! We got our canters and even did 15 meters. We didn't get the best stretchy work, but... that makes sense given that he's not really "on the bit" like he would be in a snaffle. Towards the end he did stretch more. And I do think I need to throw him away a little quicker than Funny for best results. Our free walk was about the same. He wasn't really stretching down like he can. But we'll work on it. And our leg yields were good and our serpentines are much better. I just have to remember to ask for the bend with my legs too. I felt like I didn't lose too much ridability in the saddle. But, once I got a few miniutes in.. the stirrups are definitely way too long. I was standing on my toes and my heels were halfway up my boot! And then because the fenders aren't quite turned properly yet... I felt like I was going to break my ankles! Ugh... I tried to shorten them, but they were on the tightest hole. Hmm... That's gonna be tricky. I tried sitting the trot but that didn't really work. My thighs got tight and my leg slid up. And the trot lengthen after the canter is so hard because I've lost my stirrups by that point! Doh! And, because they aren't fully turned, trying to catch them is almost impossible! So... I don't know if I put a half pad on, if that will help... if I need to try to roll them somehow (although I tried and can't figure it out), or if I should just put my english stirrups on and hope no one notices. ;) Or what! But anyways... we played a bit longer and got some nice work regardless. I do need to figure out how to sit better. I'm not sure if it's because he's moving bigger or if I just haven't found my balance yet, like in the dressage saddle. Or if i'm just out of shape because I haven't sat the trot in a saddle in probably almost a year! But I'm definitely more excited about the show. This test is fun and now that I've run through it a time or two and have gotten the hang of it, we won't embarass ourselves too much I hope!

  

We then headed to the field because Sharon wasn't there yet and I thought.. maybe i'll just canter him in the field and see if I can find my seat any better. So we trotted down the hill, which was a bad idea. He got all weak behind and wobbly and I lost my balance too. So we regrouped and trotted again and it was better. The we cantered and it was good. I kept my stirrups better but.. yeah, still gonna be tricky. 

 

And then we headed back and Sharon had just got there. I decided that I would hop on bareback instead so he could splash in the lake. It's hot and he worked hard and I felt like he deserved some splashing and I didn't want to get her saddle wet. So that's what we did. Plus, we were waiting on Sharon to tack up anyways. I let him graze while we were waiting and he stepped on his little horse hair hangy thing off his bosal and ripped half the hair out. Then a second time and ripped the majority of it out, so I just took all the hair off. Doh! Oh well. Not sure we needed it anyways. I joked I should keep it for forelock extensions! Ha ha.

 

So then we headed to the lake. The boys were good and the woods felt lovely in the shade. It really was a beautiful day. Not too terribly hot and definitely not humid. A good breeze, and in the woods, it was quite pleasant! YAY! We splashed a good bit in the lake and then headed for a nice walk. Sharon had had a rough day so we just kept it simple and easy and had a nice long walk chatting. It was lovely.