♣Ambitious♣

Since last year, I've been trying to find a running app that I like. I couldn't put anything on my phone because it had no memory, and I was limited as to what I could put on my iPod because it only has IOS 6. I guess the one perks of finally switching from Android to an iPhone is that I can actually do things with the phone. After visiting my aunt on Saturday, she recommended the Nike + Run Club. She uses it. My sister uses it. My cousin uses it. My cousin's boyfriend (who I am just now hearing about, what gives?) uses it. I probably have friends who use it, too, so I jumped on the bandwagon. It's a bit confusing to use, not gonna lie, but I'm also an old woman when it comes to new technology. My skillset peaked with the iPod Nano and whatever TV came before HD. I figured out how to set up a regular run and took it along with me. The app works just fine behind music and updates you every mile. First mile, the app pipes up "Time, 8 minutes 45 seconds, one mil...

So remember about a month ago when I tried out Vodka? Yup, riding that one now, too, lol. I decided that three days a week wasn't enough barn time, so I sent a very direct and probably kinda creepy message to Vodka's owner, but she was cool and let me ride him. Shout out to stepping out of my comfort zone! I decided to start out with a lesson just to get us on the right track, and I'm glad I did. Listen, guys, I've started to develop a pretty vague idea about what inside leg to outside rein actually means, but it's still kinda iffy. That being said, when I do it right, it works. Horse doesn't fall on the inside shoulder as much, less rushing, less tripping & funky steps. Stuff gets done all of a sudden. Doesn't mean it ain't hard, though. When you ask for a canter and just get fancy trot instead I lessoned on Monday, and Miss El made it very clear that in addition to pushing the idea of inside leg to outside rein I really need to do mo...

So this will be the last catch up post for last week. The show was a 3 day endeavor, and since Roman was leaving on Thursday morning, I opted for a Wednesday lesson just to make sure that he was set up well for competition. As usual, horse was very far away because if you live in a big pasture you might as well chill at the very back. Trainer had me do a lot of walking to encourage forward motion and get him loose. She said he ended up being really out behind, so I was interested to see how his movement would change. And change it did. No more sticky! He hopped right into his normal trot. There was still a bit of a warm up needed to get a good quality trot, but that's to be expected. It's looking like everything will be uphill from here (no pun intended). His usual post rinse ride sand bath The trot work was nice in terms of getting going. He was pulling down a lot more than usual, which is probably him saying "Contact feels bad, and my butt feels good, so let...

Last Tuesday, Roro got his hind end adjusted, and a lot was messed with, so my trainer said to give him the day off. Of course, "day off" only means I don't work him. Doesn't mean I don't get to give him the kind of unnecessary attention that I, too, constantly crave. Turn out is great, but my horse is so far away I mentioned a couple posts ago that Roman is always a bit sticky when we first go to trot. He eventually warms up out of it, but it takes an effort and some coaxing to convince him that yes forward movement is good. Welp, trainer decided to see if the chiro had any input, and long story short, he got his butt cracked a lot. Too cracked to ride. In any case, leasing gives me the right to mess with the lease horse whenever I feel like it . . . well, not whenever, but you get the point. I brought him in and gave him a good, deep brushing. Horse is very fond of deep scratches and sugar cubes. Also the hose. And my shirt collar, apparently. ...

So, we're up to last Sunday's ride. Um, yeah, it was pretty laid back. Tried and failed once again to beat the heat, so things were rather light. Roro is actually at his first show this weekend! Because of that, Miss El let me pick up an extra day of riding this week which I didn't end up using because the fam traveled up to Baltimore on Monday for my brother's 21st. Haven't even started and he's already exhausted Most of the ride was actually really good. Like damn good. Like horse is out here taking names good. We actually had a couple laps of completely relaxed inside rein with him holding himself, maintaining his pace, respecting my leg, and filling up my outside rein. We were even going to the right, so you know he was trying really hard. Truthfully not that bad for either of us Two struggle areas: the serpentine and the canter. Serpentine is meh because I'm still trying to be better about the change of rein. It's still kinda confusing,...

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Guess who's got two thumbs and has no idea how to make a timely blog post? After a super, stellar ride on Wednesday, I went into my lesson on Thursday feeling pretty confident. Wednesday was the first time my trainer has actually seen me on Roman since the first lesson a couple weeks ago. What a change, lol. Going places The very basics are definitely there. She had a lot of nice things to say about the elements that we've actually worked on. She's also happy to let him be more sticky at the start of the ride, but I'll have some more on that later. Rail work and circles are both looking and feeling pretty good, and the trot overall continues to get more consistent. Our hardest point was actually the serpentine, which pisses me off BECAUSE HE WAS SO GOOD WHEN WE DID IT OVER THE WINTER LIKE C'MON HORSE ARE YOU THAT OUT OF SHAPE. But anyways, I'm just confused as heck about changing rein and getting the new outside rein and it's hard and Dressage is d...