Lesson 11.09.11

Not the best quality, but hard to get!

Thankfully this lesson was much better than last week. I rode Tiffany again, Bridget was still out of commission but at least she was able to show up and watch.
Tiffany was in a much better mindset, it was easier to get her to listen and pay attention, and it was so good. Hard work obviously, but really, really good. I was working on getting her to compress her movement, but that she still had the power behind it. It was pretty amazing to feel, I had it for a few strides before giving her a break. It was so awesome, I've never felt something like that before, controlled power. Quite fantastic. It definitely makes her way more responsive, even though I still can't get a canter because she throws her shoulder into it, but I think that this is a start.

I feel like if I can get control of her body, that will just come more and more naturally. I'm so excited!!
xoxo

Pictures!

Speed of light! Cantering.

A leisurely walk...

Woot Circles!

I finally got the pictures of my lesson a couple weeks ago off of Andrew's phone. So here are a few! Sorry about the poor quality. Will try to get some better ones later on.
xoxo

Greenhawk Warehouse Sale!

Wooot. Best time of the year. The Greenhawk Warehouse sale! I have a huge list this year, now that I'm back in the lesson/horse world, and switched disciplines. I have a need for more things.

I got some great deals. I went after work on the Friday, and got new breeches, halfchaps, gloves, socks, and some stuff for the dog. It was great. Saved a lot of money!! I wish I could have bought new boots, but I really don't need them.

I bumped into an old friend there as well, it was nice to be able to catch up with her as well. I talked to her for a good 20 minutes at least. She was working and just helping out. We talked about what we were doing, what was new in the horse world, etc. It was great to see her.

Gotta love random encounters! I think that was the fastest Greenhawk sale I've been too, in and out. I knew what I was after, and it didn't take me long to find it!
xoxo

Bawling My Eyes Out

I just found out the worst news.

The horse... Pete, in the pic above. Has been sold. And I wasn't told until today... 3 months later. I'm just in shock, and spent most of the night crying.

Worst night ever.
xoxo

Finally Updating Here

Ok, so I lied a little bit. I am back though. I'm really going to try and keep up with this one. It's not that hard, I ride once a week. I just have to post after my lesson. Easy Peasy. Sigh.

Anyways. Lessons. Things have been going really, really well. I'm loving my lessons. Even though they are probably the hardest work I've ever had to do with riding, it's the best. It's just pure accomplishment.

Bridget has been MIA the past couple of weeks, so I've had quite a few private lessons, which are awesome. I love riding with Bridget, but having an occasional private is totally awesome. Although, her not riding for a couple weeks won't be a benefit to her.

When Bridget is in the lesson with me, I ride Gillian. Yup, back on Gillian. Which shockingly I'm enjoying. She still frustrates the crap out of me, but I'm starting to push back a little. Not letting her bully me anymore. Sure, she still gets away from me sometimes, but then I make her work harder. And then I get her amazing. And I get a feel of what she should/could/would do for me, if I could only get her like that from the beginning, and not just the last 20 mins of my lesson. She's making me work harder, and totally change my riding habits. Totally awesome, and totally worth it. I've never felt soo happy when I get something right with her.

When Bridget isn't in lesson with me, I ride Tiffany. Who is sooo so soo cute. A little more... nervous than Gillian, but still brilliant. I work on cantering with her more than Gillian, so it's nice for that little break sometimes. She makes me work hard too. It's a lot of fun on her though, less stressful in a way. I don't always have to be on top of her, two steps ahead, and I can still get results. And results are always good. Although, the last two lessons on her have been more difficult because the weather has been seriously bad. Heavy, heavy rainfall and so she had more trouble concentrating, and gets really... hot. She's a little harder to get to pay attention, and last Wednesday, even I was having trouble concentrating. We still did really well, but it was just too much happening between the rain, and multiple people in the arena (I rode in the earlier lesson with Adriana, Tina was away as well). It was just a lot of commotion. It was fun because we were doing small pattern-type exercises. Throwing more movements together, even if they are just small ones: Leg yield, circles at a walk and a trot. But it's the fact that you want her collected, in a frame, and moving well. So much harder than it sounds.

I finally have internet up at home, so I'll be able to edit and post some videos of me riding up! Andrew has the majority of them, but I'll see what I can do!
xoxo

I'm Back!

I have videos that I'll be posting hopefully within the next week. Computer internet at home is down, so might be a little longer than that, but I'm excited to showcase some videos of me riding!!

I've never done this before!
xoxo

Catch up!

My bad, I've been super bad at this one.

Lessons have been going ah-may-zingly. I've had a couple private lessons, and my last lesson was back on Gillian because Max was injured (he got stung by a bee, and then rubbed it, and it became a gaping sore, poor boy). And Oh-Em-Gee. It was amazing. The best lesson I've ever had on that mare. She was listening to me, I wasn't in a corner. I got her to collect a bit. It was amazing. And so cool to see because that means that I've come a ways in my riding. Woot for getting better! It's always nice to have some little tests to see.

I was back on Max the next week, and I had a private lesson because B was away. He's so good. I'm working on speed control, and collection. We cantered this week too, and worked on getting him calm afterwards. You'd think he'd never ran in his entire life the way he was racing around.That seems to be one of our biggest issues, is controlling his speed. He's getting better, but it's still one of the things that I'm seriously working on, that and his flexibility. We had a couple private lessons which were amazing. By the second private lesson he was sooo good. It was nice not to have to worry about where people were in the arena, and have to worry about him running towards Tiffany. We actually got him with really good flexion and frame. And a good speed! It was sooo rewarding.

Last week's lesson I was off. It was so bad. The weather's been really hot and that night was no exception. He was just like... No. F*** this. And wasn't working with me at all. It was disappointing and frustrating, but I do have to say that I probably was right there with him, and not trying as hard as I should have. My knee hurt and the brace didn't really do anything except make things a little worse. Regardless, this week made up for it. It was a bigger group lesson because the women usually before us were running late. I didn't mind, I like those women a lot, and one of them I really aspire to be like when I get to that age... But I digress. They were in our lesson last night and it was completely awesome. We did a whole bunch of exercises on the rail, and then serpentines, and then we individually cantered. That was probably the hardest part of last night. He tried to run away on me again, and I was having none of that. The ladies after were like, wow Jasmine, you were all business! You ride him so well, we were saying that you should think about showing him dressage. You look so good on him, and you get him to do things that I've seen no one else do with him. Which obviously made me really happy about that. I like knowing that I'm at least getting somewhere with the beast. But I love him.

I'll try to keep on top of this one again!!

xoxo