♣Ambitious♣

Back to school and back to work (technically still working, constant working, perpetual internships). Today was the first official day of classes, meaning it was time for me to start working around my ridiculous schedule. Seriously, on Wednesdays, my day is entirely open until 7pm, then on Fridays I have one class from 8am to noon, then that's it. I'm doing my best, though. Making the best use of my time has meant pushing workouts to the morning instead of the evenings with Friday either being a lesson day or an off day depending on how things land. Some friends asked if I wanted to join them for yoga at 8:30, which I happily agreed to. Since stretching cold muscles is never a good idea, I took a short run around campus. Oh, yeah, and to the person that honked at me, IT WAS A CROSS WALK. OPEN YOUR EYES. I've never actually done yoga before. It was a strange experience. I'm so used to being up and moving while working out, but yoga is all quiet and painful. image...

After Saturday feeling rather trainwreckish, I decided that was not how I wanted to leave things and asked (begged) Miss El to find a spot for me yesterday. The dog days of summer haven't yet parted, and while it isn't an El Nino year, I don't think we'll need it to be in order to reach record temps in the fall. At least, that's what I'm hoping. So that's how I started my Friday, with a cloudless morning at the barn. I got some shots of Max for his owner because I want to make something for her, but I don't know what kind of something. He was not cooperative, but most animals aren't ideal during photo shoots. If you ever want to turn your horse into a demon, take out a camera. I straight up told Miss El that we had lost everything she worked so hard to create while also gaining a right drift (the appearance of which still boggles me). The lesson was focused like 99% on addressing the drift because, well, I wasn't going to get any good bending...

1. Abercrombie Fitch Retro T Shirt     no longer available 2. Baieku Rhinestone Belt      yesstyle.com 3. Wilker's Hunter/Jumper Baby Pad      shop.wilkers.com 4. PJ Premiere Saddle      smartpakequine.com 5. Tredstep Ladies Hunter Classic Knee Patch Breech      horseloverz.com 6. Mondoni Kingston Tallboots      divoza.com 7. Wilker's Hunter/Jumper Memory Foam Half Pad      shop.wilkers.com

I'm in an odd spot, honestly. The search for a lease horse has officially begun. Technically, it officially began like two weeks ago when I sent the first text, which I didn't receive a response to. I sent a Facebook message also, which went unacknowledged as well. Miss Jan was actually the first person to respond. I can always trust Jan. She's basically keeping an ear open for me at the moment. Go, Jan In case you didn't know, 3'0" horses are basically magical unicorns on the American market. That 6" difference between "local show" horse and "can clear the fences at a non local show but that's about it" horse is the best way to double a price. In less sarcastic terms, the type of horse I'm looking for is just a bit too talented for bopping around in the C ring. This is reflected in a lack of monthly leases and the phrase "contact for pricing". Where is my "from lowest to highest price" option? ...

Forcing yourself to write about a ride you didn't like is not fun. Rode Max on Saturday, and it started out okay then got progressively worse. He was decent to walk, moderately decent to trot. I guess the transitions were better until he started rushing going to the right. The entire time, he was falling to the right, and I'd say it was an issue with my balance, but I actually felt far more centered than usual. My hands were still a mess, the right rein in particular. It took constant reminders to keep them in check. I set up some poles, which we went over fine once during the flatwork, but then I took a break, and came back to them, and he started rushing, and I'm just ?????? What is so different now, Max? What changed in the last 20 minutes? So we did that until he stopped, then I started adding some other fences, which he rushed at first (again, ?????). I started halting afterwards, but geez, dude, what gives? I'm kinda pissed that we've been working toget...

And by that, I mean me eating chicken nuggets while watching a live Q & A. #goals If you've been following this blog for a while, you might remember a rather old post from when I went to the Maryland Horse World Expo for the first time. That was my first time meeting Angelo Telatin, and it's no secret that I love this bald, old, Italian man. As much as I wanted to go to Delaware Valley, they had no majors that suited me. Shame. Get you a man who looks at you how Angelo looks at horses Much of the discussion kept going back to this idea of cues, mainly because Angelo is known for his bridleless riding. Not surprisingly, taking the bridle away (whether it be bitted or bitless) takes away a place of contact, which therefore takes away your hand cues. If you have a neck rope, you can regain some cues; it just depends on your individual set up. Someone basically asked the age old how do you get your horse to go bridleless, and so the answer was that you need to rep...

  Well, more or less customized. I know I've been promising this for a while, but I'm lazy, so bear with me. This DIY is a way to spruce up your half chaps (or tall boots) with a little bit of individual flair. Since I couldn't quite find something to replace my Horze chaps, I decided to do something on my own. Materials: - a pair of half chaps - monogram - flat back beads - rubber cement (or any leather adhesive) For this DIY, I used the Harry's Horse Velvet chaps , a 1/2" Relatively Stable monogram , and The Crafts Outlet 10mm rhinestones . The size for the monogram and rhinestones was based off of the width of the swagger tab on the chaps since that's where I planned to do my design. 1. Make sure your chaps are broken in and cleaned thoroughly. I say this because the leather stretching excessively from the break in process might compromise the adhesive. Better safe than sorry.  2. Apply your monogram according to the directions given. My m...

I try really hard not to complain about the heat because I know for a fact that I will be 3000x more bitter when winter finally shows up. Seriously, I always get on Miss El when she says it's too hot, especially due to the fact that she complains about the cold when it's in the 50s. Despite my efforts, even I have to admit that it's been disgustingly hot around these parts. On Sunday, we had a heat advisory until 8pm, and that was only because the sun sets at 8pm. It was still 94 when the sun was setting. But, gotta get things done, so me and Max took it easy. I've wanted to do groundwork with him, so a too-hot-to-ride day seemed like the perfect opportunity. When I got to the barn, he was out. All the horses in his pasture and the neighboring ones (so maybe 12 in total) had convened in the same general area. His two pasture mates ran up to me, wanting to go in, but there isn't much you can do when they aren't your horses. I caught mister mustang and sent h...

At this point, I'm just hoping that my knee patch breeches hold up to all the sitting trot. 1. Mondoni Winchester Boots     no longer available 2. FixDesign Breeches     shop.fixdesignhorses.it 3. Wilker's Dressage "Winning Colors" Saddle Pad     shop.wilkers.com 4. Equestrian Prep "Home Is Where My Horse Is" LS Tee     equestrianprep.com 5. M. Toulouse Aachen Dressage Saddle     smartpakequine.com

Filmed on Sunday, August 7, 2016

So, I decided on Thursday that I would take it easy on Friday in terms of working out. I added in a day of arms and a day of legs last week, and I was pretty sore. Dialing things down seemed appropriate. I had planned on doing some yoga on WiiFit, but then Friday came along, and I just . . . didn't. Then I did nothing on Saturday, too. And I also rode for a half hour on Sunday. I'm the pinnacle of health. Yeah, and he's the pinnacle of Dressage, too But, yeah, whatever, can't go back in time. Max was the same old, same old yesterday, kinda there, kinda not, had some really good moments, had plenty of bad moments too. It was certainly better than last week. We did mainly serpentines for the whole ride at the trot and canter with halts on the center line. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I lost his shoulder, and it's hard to get back because big dude still doesn't yield to leg pressure all the time. Now, moving forward off the leg? No bigg...

1. FixDesign Polo Shirt      fixdesignhorses.it 2. Linea Pelle Hip Belt      lineapelle.com 3. FixDesign Breeches      fixdesignhorses.it 4. De Niro Ottaviano Boot      kooleruitersport.nl

Ask anyone who knows me (well, maybe not my mom, but most other people) and they'll confirm that I am the queen of cool breeches. I am a fan of the unordinary. Part of it is likely rooted in my contempt with the droning simplicity of hunter ring fashion (the switch from polo shirts to sun shirts over the past few years has revived me), but then there's also the fact that I like to have fun. My collection has grown from the two I had at the start of this blog to 11 pairs total. I very much used to be a jeans and rubber boots kinda gal, but times change. So, in ascending order of preference, here are all my coolio pants. 11. FixDesign Cotton Riding Breeches Style : Euroseat Fit : Runs small Material : 67% rayon, 26.5% nylon, 6.5% spandex Use : Rare FixDesign is an Italy high fashion company that happens to have a line of riding clothing as well. It's like Gucci but more appropriately priced. I found out about them through fellow blogger Silvia of Equestrian Trend,...

I really hate the word "Auguts's" 1. What is your biggest source of caffeine that gets you through the day? (drink, not just brand) TEA! SO MUCH TEA! SO MUCH CHAI! 3 CUPS A DAY! PREFERRABLY TAZO (although I have tried Twinings, and it wasn't half bad)!   image from Oregon Chai 2. Do you honestly think your trainer is the best trainer for you? For my current situation, yes. Of course, that doesn't mean that my emotional brain tells me otherwise every so often, but I just tell it to shut up. 3. One token of advice a fellow rider/trainer/horse person told you that you still remember to this day. You'll never be perfect. 4. If riding meant costing your family so much money that they’d be basically on poverty line, or making your family terribly unhappy (if they were not supportive or understanding, etc.) would you still do it? To the first part, absolutely not. To the second part, my parents don't really want me riding and would rather I do som...

image from onsizzle For the record, I don't play Pokémon Go. I'm more of a Bakugan kinda gal. That being said, These Hands have once again become a dead weight. Max went back to his home on Wednesday, so I rode yesterday, hoping that he retained everything. In all honesty, he did. He retained everything very well, but he's also retained everything he knew about his home, which includes trying to race back to the barn and going super duper slow. Sure those are undesirable habits, but my reaction wasn't any better. It wasn't as bad as our ride from two weeks ago , but I'm not sure whether I prefer a horse shutting down on me or curling away from contact. If I could, I would go out again this week and fix what I broke, but that's just not feasible. Despite me not putting in my fair share, we had a lot of good moments. The walk is darn near perfect, and he has some good self carriage through the walk and trot. He took to the transitions thing exceptio...