♣Ambitious♣

No Stirrup November is almost over, which means my thighs can get a break, but it's just a little break considering that Miss J still puts an emphasis on stirrupless work. At least I'll have them when we jump. I was on Ginger/Glitter/Matilda today. We did our usual two-point at the walk and trot plus some rising trot with stirrups. I want to take a minute to appreciate the irons that I used today. I've already explained my dislike for the flex stirrups since they make my heel go down to an awkward position. The irons I used today were somewhere in between flexible and traditional irons. They were mostly composite with a small, flexible section towards the bottom. Perfection. Ginger/Glitter/Matilda was quite hollow and lazy today, and she didn't want to move off of my leg or bend in the corners. It was lots of circles and square corners, but she did surprise me with a very nice leg yield. We did a little bit of jumping. Took the cross rail both ways, then we did thre...

There's more to yesterday than just that lesson. I spent the whole day at the barn, which I haven't done in a while. Miss S let me ride Molly in her last lesson, and I essentially became a textbook figure, which I love. Molly was awesome. At first, she was her typical looky, inverted, unrelaxed self, but she settled down quickly. When she did, I got in my two-point. I stayed up until Miss S started teaching the other two. I just followed along. It was all walk and trot, then we did the line, just trotting through it, and Molly was the bomb. We also did the entire course two times. There were moments where she wasn't as laid back or where she resisted me, but it was great for the most part. It's actually a lot better for me to ride Molly in beginner lessons. I'm not very confident on her; I'm a lot more nervous and tense on her than I am on other horses, so doing the basic stuff helps me to loosen up. It prevents me from over facing myself. When I stopped rid...

But there is literally so much that happened today that I can't be satisfied unless I say it all. Quick summary if you're in a rush: I rode four horses, Molly was awesome, and I jumped 3'0". Long, drawn out version: I opted to join the group lesson today instead of having the private on Monday. It worked out better, actually. I got there super early to help Miss S set up everything that I wanted to do: Swedish Oxer, gymnastic, narrow fence, and a four stride line. Simple stuff. I wasn't too enthusiastic about moving the poles, though. A lot of them are wooden and heavy, and it was cold and rainy today, literally the two worst weather related things that could happen. We got everything set up, then I head out to bring Baby down to the indoor and tack her up. I got on and just two-pointed until Miss S had us pick up a trot. We did basic posting, sitting, and two-point at the trot, then some no stirrup work. After that, we did the outside line a couple of times ...

More like the real reason I should do Western Pleasure. I'd venture to say that I'm better off going slow and not jumping things. Since we didn't go to a show today, we, instead, had a show. Miss J and Miss Jan decided to do a mock show for us. We watched all the horses get schooled first by J² and Sam. It seemed that everyone was feeling their oats today, with the exception of Twister and Leo. When it came time to draw names, I got Twister, and I thought myself to be lucky. All I had to worry about was getting her to move forward and not not duck right. Simple. No, not simple, not simple at all. I messed up both warm-up fences because of unclear signals and bad timing. Miss J had us pick a number 1 through 20 to see who would have to do the course first. I picked 16. The number was 17. I hate the number 16 now. The only jump that really bothered me was the first one, a gray wall. Twister took it nicely. We came around and took a left turn to the bending line. The first...

I'm busy, busy, busy. After (FINALLY!) getting my phone replaced and working, I was able to head to the barn today carefree. I cleaned the pasture with the intent to ride so I could try out my new saddle pad. I knew there would be lessons, and I thought Baby was going to be used, so I asked for permission to ride Chess. I was allowed. My precious I tacked him up in the small barn and let him munch on a bit of hay to keep his attitude about me positive. On the walk down to the indoor, I noticed that both the pad, the charm I made for his bridle, and my pants all matched. Blue polos would have really brought it all together. I got on and did some two pointing. Miss S had a lesson going on, so I stuck to the rail. When I started to trot, she noticed that Chess was off in the front. She had me work him in circles to put him back on his hind end, but I suck at doing that, and Chess's muscle is so minimal that he sucks at it too, so we spent 10-15 minutes just going around doing...

I do consider myself to be rather traditional when it comes to show attire. Dark coat, plain shirt, black accents, it's what I prefer. However, after being in the hunter world for so long and itching to be in the jumper one, I've come to crave the non-conservative. Clearly, eventers know what's up. Maybe Amanda C will let me switch lives with her next year so I don't have to go through another conservative season. Photo from Braymere.blogspot.com Even the Dressage ring is beginning to step way out of the box. Animo Coat, photo from justriding.com Of course, being a fan of Style My Ride doesn't help much. Their sets are always different and flawless, and the Vincero Boot will grace my feet sometime in the distant future when I can justify having multiple pairs of tallboots that aren't for showing in.   The hunter/eq world needs to keep up with the times. I guess for bigger medals and more elite shows the traditions should certainly be ke...

At the start of this year, I was afraid that my job with my mom was coming to an end. I pay for all of my riding, so I panicked and started looking for a way to make money. I thought about starting a business with Fifi, and one of the items that I wanted to sell was bridle charms. My mom has a whole lot of leftover beads and supplies from when she used to make jewelry, so I had a lot to work with. My job lasted (I'm actually going to it in 15 minutes), but I still make the charms for fun. If you're planning on entering the tumblr category of my giveaway , you can pick from any of the charms below plus the charms in the original post. That's a total of 11 charms to choose from, and you can pick any three. If you want something custom, just tell me. I'll see what I can do.

As of November 7th, 2014, our new IEA team is active! Our first show will be on the 23rd of this month, which is closer than it seems, but I'm acting like it's far away, so I don't freak myself out. Since I joined this team, I've been slightly bothered by the thought that I might pick a crazy horse, or even a horse that has a bit requiring double reins cause I don't know how to use those. That is some complicated shit. We do have one horse at the barn that's super forward and requires a steady rider; I've been attempting to convince myself to try riding her. My attempts have failed, but that's okay because Corbin is cooler. I guess the day will come, eventually, when I have to place my behind on the back of a raging beast. I want to be a show jumper, after all. They don't have pleasure pony in the Olympics. Technically, I got close to that with Zoey, but she's a lot closer to the ground than your average show jumper. The fear factor isn't qui...

God bless flatwork. It's so strange to think about how nutso I've become about spending enough time on flatwork. Back when I first started riding, all I wanted to do was trot. When I learned to trot, all I wanted to do was canter. When I learned to canter, all I wanted to do was jump. Now that I've learned to jump, I've come full circle. All I crave is flatwork. Sure, jumping is fun, but you're in the air for all of, what, two seconds? As they say, jumping is just Dressage with speedbumps. I've already decided that I want to focus on Junior Equitation and the Low Children's Medal next year, and I decided (rather haphazardly) that I want to try to qualify for the Mid-Atlantic Equitation Finals. They have a class at 2'6", which is perfect, but to qualify you have to win an equitation class at 3'0". It's likely that I won't be able to try a 3'0" course until well into next year's show season, but I have until October (I ...

Do you ever have those moments where you're not sure if your trainer is being passive aggressive or if they're just indifferent? I had to take two SAT subject tests today, and they ended up going over the allotted time, then I got picked up late because my dad was attempting to get something done with our boat, so my mom had to rush to come get me, and, by that time, I had missed the jumping lesson that I was supposed to be at. Plus, my phone bill hasn't been paid, and that caused issues of its own. I apologize for sounding spoiled with my boat and cellular device; I haven't had a day this bothersome in a while. I've coped with the stress of college applications, but that was anticipated. Today was not anticipated. I did still get to ride in the 3:30 lesson with all the flat children, plus Miss Jan and three other girls who usually ride in the jumping lesson. When I got to the barn, I was a bit uneasy about this morning, and I was waiting for a scolding about how ...

Someday I hope to have a gold medal, but, since today is not that day, I will be satisfied with gold in other forms. That darn Tori Burch belt will always escape my grasp.

That's what swept through my area this weekend. Of course, it shows up on the day that I have to clean the pasture, which hasn't been done in three weeks due to the fact that my parents have been out. I barely got a third of it done, but at leas that third was done meticulously. Next week will be just as brutal. After five hours of shoveling shit, I treated myself to a nice relaxing ride. Baby was all for it, ready to go, but not being overly excited. When I got her on the cross ties in the indoor, I realized that I forgot her bridle at the other barn. I took the run back, thinking I could trust her for two minutes by herself. When I got back, she had her butt completely pressed up against the stalls to her left, and she was trying to eat the right cross tie. Bless these creatures. I got her straightened out, tacked her up, and hopped on. I went straight into the two-point today and did a few laps at the walk and the trot, then I went to rising trot. I did mainly circles to...

Students everywhere tremble in fear of the eleventh month. As the last of the warm days disappear and the clipping season sets in, the dread of having to drop the irons almost permanently sweeps over the nation of the equestrians. We all know the horror that lies after the command "Cross your stirrups"; even the most talented and experienced equitation riders get a shiver down their spine as they approach the barn for the first time in November. George Morris says a prayer for us all. It is the trainers—only the trainers—who relish in this tradition. They lure the newbies in. "Everyone does it," they say. "Do you want to have the seat of a GP Dressage rider?" they ask, and the newbies, due to their ignorance, nod their heads yes, and watch as the leathers are plucked from their holdings and left in the barn for the next 30 days. On this month, both our thighs and likely our pride will be sored. We must, however, persevere. For the next month, you are a sol...