♣Ambitious♣

1. Yves Saint Laurent Retro Browline Sunglasses     ysl.com 2. Barneys New York Trouser Belt     barneys.com 3. Samshield Shadow Matt Helmet     smartpakequine.com 4. "World's Okayest Eq" Tee     customizedgirl.com 5. De Niro Ottaviano Boot     kooleruitersport.nl 6. Horze Grand Prix Self Patch Breeches     horze.com

Valentine's day? In July (almost August)? Not quite, but if you fancy a lady equestrian, you might want to ditch the chocolate next year because there's something even better. Valentine Equine is a line of luxury show apparel established on the island of Bali in 2013. They create a variety of equestrian items that are meant to be both beautiful and practical. While they do have yearly collections available, you can also have items custom made. Valentine offers a number of fabrics to choose from, all imported, some even from top designers. While the show shirts and jackets may not fit into the traditional American show scene, 1) who cares, wear it anyway, 2) if they don't like it then school in it and share lots and lots of pictures, and 3) there are still other items that allow you to dress the part. They also have an After Riding section with some pretty cute scarves! At this point, why wait until Valentine's Day? "Early Christmas Present...

And it didn't yield a ton of information, but I have some history on Music now. So, I was wrong about her age. She's 23 this year. Talk about old lady. She's also a part bred, which is surprising considering how full she is. from Mid-Atlantic CB Show Series from White Horse Productions Her sire, Ramblers Renown (above), was pretty renown in the Cleveland Bay world. He was imported from Canada and became a well sought after stallion at IdleHour Stud. From Chronicle of the Horse : Ramblers Renown (Fisherman--April Love) arrived at Thomas and Marilyn Webster's IdleHour Stud as a foundation stallion in 1989 upon the recommendation of Alexander Mackay-Smith, who was the first person to import Cleveland Bays from England in the 1930s. For years, Marilyn rode Ramblers Renown in the local hunts and eventing competitions, earning many top honors. In 1998, Ramblers Renown won the Purebred Cleveland Bay Performance Award, and either he or his offspring hav...

1. Asmar Quilted Stable Vest     asmarequestrian.com 2. Asmar Active Compression Top     asmarequestrian.com 3. Harrys Horse Bounce riding breech     no longer available 4. Mondoni Kingston tallboots     divoza.com 5. Polo shirt     no longer available 6. Salentino 01     denirobootco.it 7. HKM Sports Equipment     hkm-sportsequipment.eu 8. FixDesign Alcantara Breech     fixdesignhorses.it

Go be difficult somewhere else. Yup, catering over poles is still an issue except this time it's rhythm and staying on the correct lead. If I needed proof that Music is getting more fit, this was it. She powered over those poles after a solid workout. Her transitions are getting better and better. Now to work on maintaining the canter. The trot continues to come along, and the walk is, well, it is. We don't have a good marching walk, which it's surprising because she'll get pretty forward at the trot and canter if I ask her to (and if I don't ask her to). I'd say warm-up was more brutal today than the actual ride. There were airplanes and ladders and back strokes (personal fave) and that windmill toe touch thing that makes me feel like a broken old lady. Yeah, my shoulders ache, but they'll be softer in due time.

Music's rhythm is becoming more consistent with each ride, so now Miss El is having me pick up the pace a bit. She's not as out of shape as she was a month ago. It's time for real work to begin. It's pretty easy for us to get the pace going at the trot and maintain it, but the walk is still pretty weak. Along with moving up at the trot, she's having me ask Music to come onto the bit, which Music does sometimes, but her preferred place is with a slight droop in the reins. In reality, that is fine for hunters and pleasure, and she can do that whilst performing a solid gait, but it's not contact, which I need for, well, everything else. Once I shortened my reins and picked up more contact, she immediately wanted to stop, and it took a lot of leg and softening before she settled into my hands. The big thing is softening (in general, actually) because Music is the type of horse that pulls back when you pull on her. Bending was still the main issue for today...

The upcoming NAJYRC are behind this month's HDM challenge: What's your biggest riding dream or goal? Well, I have a lot of big goals and big dreams, some long term, some short term. The goal of competing in the 3' adult amateur equitation next year is slowly slipping into dream territory, however IHSA might give me that opportunity as we are all adults, it's only open to amateurs, I can compete at 3' (skill depending), and it's equitation, so boom. Long term dream is to be able to ride at the Grand Prix levels in both jumping and Dressage. That's all dependent on if I can find someone who can teach me properly (looking right at you Dressage because this modern, backwards, nose to chest, back like a ladle nonsense has got to end). My absolute biggest goal is eventually having my own stable(s) to train out of, but the Olympics are a close second. The queen keeps my dream alive

The work ethic was lacking yesterday evening. Music was trying to walk at every chance she got, like, c'mon, I thought we were kind of friends. We continue to work on the rhythm, and with how much she lags, I think it's fair to assume that we have relaxation (for the most part). Miss El was getting on me about getting Music to bend and use my inside leg rather than hanging on the outside rein, which has become a habit. It took a lot of circles, leaving the arena twice, and a lecture before we started getting some good bends. The canter was better in terms of transitions, although we did have two missed leads. We could maintain it for almost a lap before she broke, but I will admit that I was squeezing my knees and not sinking into my heel as much as I usually do. Miss El then set up trot poles with the goal being to come at them calmly with the correct tempo. They got rolled out a couple of times before she put up a small vertical. Took my first jump with the Hippo. We to...

Laine Ashker, that is, because she is endlessly stylish. 1. Kate Spade Gramercy Grand Pave Bracelet Watch     shopbop.com 2. Roeckl Micro Air Gloves     divoza.com 3. C4 Belt Buckle     c4belts.com 4. J.Crew Slim Secret Wash Shirt in Large Gingham     sold out 5. FITS PerforMAX Laura Full Seat Breeches     no longer available 6. IRH Elite Extreme Riding Helmet     doversaddlery.com 7. C4 Belt     c4belts.com 8. Horze Roller Ball Spur     horze.com 9. Horze Bavaria Tallboots     horze.com

This week for me started with a two-day college orientation, which was surprisingly enjoyable despite my bother's rant. The architecture school is small, only 200 students in total, and my orientation group only had three people. There were a number of awkward silences on the first day, but we got to be pretty friendly by the end of it all. Scheduling was done on Tuesday morning. I planned out my days to start no earlier than 9am. My latest class ends at 5:50pm, but it's only once a week. What's the significance of it all? Well it pretty much means that I can easily do afternoon lessons almost any day of the week, and if I have something else to do, I still have weekends. After scheduling, we did some housekeeping items, and the group didn't mind taking a trip past the campus barn. I stopped by after the orientation was over. It took me a half hour to find again (in that Maryland heat and humidity), but I did get there, and I talked to the barn manager about th...

After thinking deeply about having a super lazy ride last week when the original plan was to actually work, I've kicked myself in the butt about, essentially, getting shit done. I've lost quite a bit of confidence since IEA ended, so getting back to that point is my goal with Music. Miss El is also giving me homework for my free rides, and she was in the ring this week. Couldn't take a free day. Music is getting a lot better about her face, and I was able to walk up to her stall on both days without her backing up or getting nervous. She had her ears pricked forward, waiting for a treat. Our lesson on Tuesday was pretty heavy work, lots of two point and just general fitness. We did the extension/collection exercise that Miss J had us do a while ago, except this was much simpler because Music is so out of shape. She's not half bad at maintaining either gait, but the transition needs work because it's not very relaxed. It took quite an effort to canter, and we didn...