Good but Tiring

Last night's lesson wasn't my greatest, but it was still better than I've had before.

When Debbie asked how we were tonight, both B and I were very lazy. Although we both had very good reasons: I was sick, B's knee hurt. I got a cold again, with cough, sore throat and runny nose. Yay for head colds. B spent 13 hours this weekend in tall spiky heels dancing (her daughter's wedding) so she strained her knee.

No cantering in today's lesson, Debbie said that I shouldn't get sweaty and catch a chill. So we did trot circles, serpentines and worked on our upward and downward transitions. Walk to trot, trot to walk. It was really good. I was getting her to not fall so much on her forehand when coming into the downward transition. I had no energy due to my cold really beating on me, so it was hard for me to drive her into the bridle.

B on the other hand, had an amazing lesson!! She's on a big mare named Jazzy who's not completely finished as a dressage horse yet, but she loves it cuz Jazzy's BIG. B loves her big draft horses with lots of hair. She is a pretty horse, but she has that attitude of "You can't make me do anything I don't want to do" (Big horse mentality). Jazzy's issue is that she's not quite sure she wants to do everything that we want her to do yet. She's been left to her own devices for a while so she's rebelling. This week, B didn't let her. She put her in her place and Jazzy was so shocked, that she didn't even try to not listen. It was really good for both of them.

Next week, hopefully I'm in tip-top shape, and ready to tackle dressage anew. Plus, the barn's Holiday party is coming up next week!! I'm super excited.
xoxo

Winter Blues & 2012

It's amazing how quickly one's body hates you after exercise. My body is so sore, it's almost like I haven't ridden in years, not just missed one lesson.

Last night's lesson was intense. All my lessons are intense, but they're getting increasingly so. I'm getting not so much into harder stuff, or more complicated, I'm just having to USE more of my own energy to help motivate and drive Tiffany into her collection. We were working on 20 metre circles, and how to measure one. I've never had to learn that before, as in Western we aren't as exact with our circles. Large and Small circles. Not 10m or 20m. It was really cool to learn. Dressage also has more letters on the wall than Western, which takes some getting used too. Debbie's always like ok at P... and I have to look to see where the hell P is. So as we are working on collection, at a 20m circle, and making square corners, I'm also trying not to slowly fall apart as my energy starts failing. It's hard work, moving your core, keeping it tight. It really works to help keep the horse together, and it'll give me amazing abs. My thighs, they burn, but in a good way. I probably shouldn't have worn heels to work on a Wednesday because all through my lesson my toes kept cramping up. Very unusual feeling. It's like you have no control and your foot feels like it's stuck in the stirrups.

It's an amazing feeling when your horse starts to get it and work on it's own. By the end of the lesson, I had her doing some amazing circles, collected, flexing to the inside, and it's just like "Wow, this feels (almost) effortless". It took effort to get there, but once there, she's holding the frame, and your just driving her forward. I hate missing a lesson because I love that feeling. The feeling of accomplishment. Not to mention even though it was -20 outside last night, I was sweating. It was a great feeling to know that I can actually get a work up and build a sweat. In Western, I do have to say that unless it was ridiculously hot outside, I never actually felt like I was working hard every lesson. Sometimes, yeah. But every lesson? Not at all. I never in the winter would work enough to make my toes hot. Yeah, toes. I always had to wear double socks. Now? One pair. No long johns. It's crazy. **I am wearing winter boots and breeches, so I'm getting extra warmth that way.

Also, the barn cat had 2 kittens, and they look exactly like her: super cute, all white, and super blue eyes. Also they don't like their pictures being taken, they walk away! Sigh. I tried my best with these pictures, also with my phone that has no flash. There are only 2 kittens, it just looks like four because of the mirror!

On a slightly different note, it's very exciting because there are lots of cool "horse" stuff happening in the next coming year. Mirvish has released their 2011/2012 theatre season and there is a horse related production coming in February 2012! War Horse, is coming to Toronto. I'm very, very excited about it. It looks fantastic, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to cry like a baby throughout the entire thing. Another thing that might be coming to Toronto is Cavalia 2! That should be amazing, just like the first one. I will definitely go see that, as now I have a new appreciation for the dressage work that they do.

War Horse preview!

Planning ahead to 2012,
xoxo

Another Cancellation...

Sigh. This time though, I can blame the damn weather. We had a snowstorm that put the whole city of Toronto and the GTA in alert. Even though people didn't think it was that bad, there were a lot of cars that ended up in the ditch. I talked to Debbie and she said that we would plan a make up lesson.

Damn weather! What can you expect for January in Ontario?

xoxo

Keep On Rising, Amazing Lesson #2

The lessons just keep getting better and better.

I may have missed last weeks lesson, but man, I think I'm better for it. I was on fire last night. Literally and figuratively as well. I wore all my new winter clothes, and was so warm. Totally worth the huge spending that I dropped in Greenhawk 2 weeks ago. My legs were warm without long johns, and my TOES. They were warm without two pairs of socks on. Shocking, I know. Granted the weather wasn't at it's all time low (-20) but at a gentle low of -6. That I can handle. I rode Tiffany again. I'm so not wanting her to get sold. I will cry if she does, because she's amazing and I can deal with her. We work together amazingly.

There are moments when she gets tense. Debbie (my coach) was talking to me about it. The girl who's interesting in purchasing her asked her why she's saying that Tiffany is "an intermediate" horse. She was telling me that it's because when Tiff isn't 100% sure what the rider wants, or if it's not going accordingly to how she thinks it's supposed to go, then she gets tense. Which brings on a major case of the wiggles, and over anticipation. I counteract that with just doing something else. Going back to slow. Walk to trot transitions instead of trot to canter. Serpentines. Circles. Leg yields. It was an amazing lesson. I was doing trot leg yields to the wall and then cantering out of them. My transitions are getting so much better. There are moments when going a certain direction that I know that I'm the one doing things wrong, not having enough support on the outside to counteract her wiggles, so then she falls apart. And won't be able to pick up the correct lead. Although, she makes it tough because she LOVES to counter-canter. I've never known a horse to love it so much that she won't change and does a serpentine on the one lead. And nicely too. She's so cute to ride. I think that she'll be able to teach me how to do flying lead changes (if she's around that long). I sincerely hope that she will be.

Until next week,
xoxo

Another Lesson...

...Cancelled.

I know. I hate it when I miss lessons, but B had a huge headache and was unable to drive me or herself up to the barn. She left it at such short notice that my parents couldn't drive me either. Sigh. Such is life when I don't drive myself.

It's kind of disappointing because I was ready to wear all my new winter clothes and try them all out that night!

Such is life. She seems to have passed her headache on to me...
Better luck for next week!
xoxo

Winter Costs...

Oh man. Greenhawk, you sly mistress. Sucking me in with deals and clearance, only to have me walking out with $400 worth of more horse stuff.

Why must horse gear be so EXPENSIVE?!

New boots, new pants, new socks, new sweater. New outfit. And a boot jack.

No more clothes for me. But they're all for winter, so not likely that I'll need to repurchase anytime soon.

Thank Heavens.
xoxo

I Think I'm Starting to Get This...

This week's lesson was great. I feel myself just getting better and better.

The first week of January's lesson, I just wasn't on. I was having seriously technical difficulties with my left side, not just my hand. Kept letting my outside aids fall to the wayside. So she kept getting away from me in her collection. I wasn't connected to my core so she was kind of all over the place because I was all over the place. The reference my coach uses for what my outside rein should be like is that it's like a tight rope, and there's a little man trying to walk it. If it bounces, your little man will fall off (which is not what you want). It means that your contact with her outside is not constant. That lesson, every time I looked down to check, there was my rein, bouncing all over the place. I couldn't feel that my hand was letting the reins slip or anything. I think that was the most frustrating thing. I couldn't feel my hand and what it was doing. I thought that it was ok when it wasn't.

This week's lesson I worked on my canter. Canter serpentines! It was really cool, I'd never actually done them before. Tiffany is so pro. Sadly, someone emailed about her the other day, so I might be out of another horse. On the up side, my coach said that she'd get the girl to come out on a Wednesday when I ride to showcase her. FML. So much pressure!!! Maybe I'll get Tiz to come out and tape me as well. =D that'd be pretty epic.

Canter serpentines... Just not flying lead changes in between :)