♣Ambitious♣

It seems that we have a megaphone snooping on my blog. Yes, Isabella, I'm talking about you, and now you're looking around your room with a pleased smile on your face acting like you have no idea what I'm taking about. To the rest, the previously mentioned child did not hesitate to show Miss S my last post, which included my lengthy rant on oxers. Of course, Miss S decided that torturing me during tonight's lesson was imperative. She set up two oxers, TWO OXERS, and one was a triple bar . . . well, it was a tiny triple bar, but it was three poles and they were ascending, therefore it was a triple bar. The second oxer was much large and wider; it had to be 2'0"-2'6", at least somewhere in that range, and although I almost knocked it down three times, I'm still patting myself on the back because I didn't even come close to falling off. My stirrups were longer too, so high five to me. It was another jumping lesson. We did our trot overs, and ...

Yes, Miss S, of course I am grimacing. First, you change how my foot sits in the stirrup. Let me repeat, she changed how my foot sits in the stirrup . She pushed my foot forward about an inch, so my foot was sitting in the iron all awkward and what not. You would not believe what she does next though. She sets up a gymnastic. It was simple, with poles and a few verticals, BUT THEN SHE PUT AN OXER AT THE END OF IT, LIKE, WHO DO YOU THINK I AM??!!! If it's not obvious yet, I am not actually mad at my trainer, but oh was I grimacing today. We've had some snow the past few days, so that, plus the fact that it continues to melt and freeze overnight, has made for limited turnout for the horses and ponies. The ice is pretty insane; both Baby and I slipped on the way to the indoor. I was expecting her to be a bit forward from the get go, but she was actually very calm and willing today, and she saved my booty at least three times. It was straight work for the first 15-20 minutes. W...

I spent my day having loads of fun at the Maryland Horse Expo! Miss S, a few students, and two parents drove two and a half hours to Timonium to see the expo this year. Honestly, it was worth it, although I only watched the Parade of Breeds and a Dressage to Bridleless Jumping demo. I watched part of a hunter clinic, which was probably the most informative. I can't remember who was teaching there clinic, but it was the easiest to understand because I had my own background knowledge, and the riders' mistakes were quickly pointed out, explained, and corrected. They were in a fairly tight space, but all of them managed to do 2'6"-3'0" course very nicely. They also had some gymnastics set up that we're going to try putting together in the indoor for the remaining time that we have to slave away in there. I greatly enjoyed the Dessage to Bridleless Jumping demo. That wasn't even the focus of the whole thing, if you ask me. The title itself had "...

I have to say, my lesson today was not all that exciting, but that usually happens when I'm the most relaxed, and that's always a good thing. Today, it was mostly about preciseness and control on the flat, then that plus finesse over fences. I was feeling pretty good on the flat with the only issue being my hands. I've been focusing a lot on my leg, and I think that I might have to do this overdone, two-point thing that helped me get my leg back before. Baby was good too. Nice departures both ways. She was, as usual, on the forehand to the left, but she was much quicker about getting back on her behind when we did the circle. Too bad she just fell again when we finished circling. It's still a work in progress, and I hope to ride on Thursday this week, so that will be one of the main focuses. On the plus side, her stop and downward transitions in general were fantastic. No jogging a whole bunch before getting to the walk, no having to use the verbal cue and pull back...

So, over winter break, I found myself back slaving away at my mother's office to pay for my lessons and what not. My job is rather monotonous, but it is easy to multitask with it, so I set up my tablet on my desk and started watching the Maclay Finals. Of course, the entirety of the footage is about 9.5 hours long, drag breaks included. It took me about three or four days to finish the whole thing, and I must say that I am highly impressed with the challenges that the riders are faced with both on course and on the flat as well as how they handle those challenges. I wasn't surprised at all that Lillie Keenan won; her last course was flawless, absolutely flawless. Also, the commentary by Jacob Pope and that other guy, whose name escapes me, was very informative when it came to just how the judges wanted the riders to do the course (i.e. if the course says hand gallop, you had better make like Secretariat and get going). Back to the point of this post, some part of me decided t...

Oh yes, that was my perplexion today, my leads. Actually, it wasn't even my leads, it was my lead going from the white diagonal to the colored line. That was the only lead issue. Today's ride was a bit longer than usual. We started with the basic walk and trot. We've been having some serious back and forth weather here. It snowed one day, then it was a rather toasty 40ºF the next day, then it was 60ºF the day after that with a major overcast, then it poured like crazy today, and they're calling for snow and record lows tonight. Welcome to the east coast. Long story short, with the rain today, Baby spent the whole day inside, so of course by the time that I was ready to ride at 4pm, she was ready to go. No biggie, she wasn't crazy (kinda), and she wasn't being too sassy (okay, that's a lie), and her left lead was manageable (I think I just broke all the seven deadly sins with that statement). Miss S had us do a gymnastic to work on stride length. We were on...

Okay, I'm pushing it with this one, but I present to you your next outfit for Fashion Thursday, "Working With Floral". I can't even pretend like I'm not proud of this one. I actually found the pants on Pinterest a long time ago, but I didn't think much of them until I found them again last Friday while putting my list together for Cyber Monday. I may or may not be getting a pair (that means that I am), but I wanted to see if it was even possible to match it with anything. In my opinion, it's possible. 1. HKM Palermo Flower Breeches     www.hkm-sportsequipment.eu 2. Ambiance Apparel Women Polo Shirt sleeve Top (in black, yellow, purple and white)     www.etopsclub.com 3. Horze Gemma Leather Chaps with Crystals     www.horze.com 4. Coach Dress Weston Leather Belt     www.coach.com I have a variation that features a long sleeve/three quarter sleeve yellow button down, but good luck finding one that's similar (Polo Ralph Laure...

Well, do I have some good news for you all. Firstly, Happy New Year! I hope you all had a nice end to last year. I'll have you know I spent mine watching Ben 10 and doing a history outline, but I'm not even bothered by that. It was actually enjoyable. Anyway, on to more important matters, I had my first lesson of the year today. Something must have changed when the year did. I have been having so many issues with the canter, sitting trot, relaxation, my hands, pace during courses, and, especially, my two-point. I can honestly say that I had absolutely no issues with any of the items on that list today. My ride was amazing, literally amazing, and I'm probably going to be on a high from it for at least three months. A little catch-up, Miss S's mother, Doreen, did a clinic last Saturday. I swear I could have had a political debate with this woman over my stirrups. Technically, the iron is supposed to hit at your ankle bone, but I like longer stirrups! I have short legs w...