♣Ambitious♣

Continuing with my previous post since it was about a show and two lessons, one of which I cannot recall anymore. I had my second lesson with Miss E after cancelling two weeks in a row (it hurts more than you think). I wasn't allowed to ride Buddy for the lesson because of an accident he had the previous week with another girl. He tripped again, but he went far enough down for the girl to come off, so Miss E wants the vet to look at him just to make sure everything is okay. Instead, I rode a mare named Jazzy. The whole grooming and tacking up process made me start my lesson a bit discouraged. First, Miss E has a lot of horses, and I have been to her barn a total of three times. I cannot possibly remember who all the horses are in that amount of time. She told me I was riding Jazzy, pointed to the mare's stall, and said, "You're riding Jazzy. She looks kind of like a mule, but she jumps well. Close the stall door when you go to put her halter on or she'll try to b...

I just started this blog and I'm already slacking big time. Tisk tisk! Anyway, I had a show back on the weekend of July 20th, so I have a long spiel about that. I'm just copying and pasting from a horse forum that I post on. No need to type that long description again. I had a show this past weekend, and overall it was pretty good, er I mean GREAT! Everything went so smoothly this time as compared to last. There wasn't as much rushing. I was planning on riding Duke in long stirrup only for both days. I schooled him Saturday morning and he was a gem. A younger girl was going to ride Baby, so my trainer had me school Baby as well. I never noticed how different two horses can feel. Baby and Duke are two very different horses (13.3 crossbred pony vs. 15.2 HUS/WP Paint), but I was thrown a curve ball when I got on Baby. I've been riding Duke since January, but I just felt way better on Baby and figured I'd ask the trainer if I could ride her instead of Duke...

I got about 10 good minutes of bareback riding at my lesson yesterday evening. Duke and I walked, trotted, and cantered a bit, although the cantering part was tough. He doesn't like moving, in general, but he's better bareback than with a saddle (perhaps it's because I can kick better without stirrups). I was having a pretty good lesson, so by the time we started cantering bareback, my dare devil side became all too tempting. I slowly loosed my reins to the buckle, and then I just dropped them and stuck my arms out. Did that for about five strides before the little booger broke on me. I genuinely surprised myself though. I'm usually so nervous to do things, but this time I just carefully dropped the reins and made sure he didn't get a foot stuck in them. I was worried about falling at all. Eh, I guess things just change over time. Bareback aside, the rest of my lesson was still fantastic. I'm starting to get on Duke's case more about bending his cor...

I had my first lesson with the Pony Club trainer, Miss E, this past Monday. All I can say is ow. I thought I was paying this woman to help me get a good rating, not make it physically impossible for me to get out of bed in the mornings! My body aches all the way around. My neck, shoulders, upper back, biceps, abs, bum, inner thigh, and even my shins hurt. I don't even know how I managed to work some of these places to the point where they ache so much, except maybe the bum. Yeah, it wasn't a great ride. I was on this fantastic horse Buddy. He's a 16.1, 30-something year old Thoroughbred gelding. Yes, you read that right. A 30-something year old Thoroughbred who can easily do Dressage and 3'0" courses. He's also a beginner's horse, and one that you absolutely have to push or else he's not going to try. He shows his age in other ways, though. His entire head and neck have grayed. The brown hairs are only there lightly now. His topline doesn't look t...