Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Show Practice I
Well I was assigned Rocci (Sandy's, our coach, gelding) I got a 61.92. Pretty much consistantly scored 6's and 7's not to bad for my first time on him. The WHOLE test consisted of me thinking I have to remember this test, and thinking it over and over in my head with....Corners corners corners just behind that. She said I kept good contact, but that I needed to bend and slow down, and well pretty much ride like I know how. Silly really, a FAKE show and I still got all flustered and nervous. :P oh well. So goes. I am just so happy I remembered, thats my biggest fear is to forget the test! So I beat our other Training 4 rider. He forgot his test, but he also has been showing a lot more than me. I havent shown in years so he is a little more prepared than I. Lets just hope he learns his test when we go to compete against the other schools!!!! Lesson on thursday, on a NEW horse woo Who!! more then.
I'm done.....
I have resigned from volunteering at the witter center. Other than the fact that I do chores 3 or 4 times a week and at most can only ride once or twice a week. And that amount is going to be cut back anyway since I have to work with Peaches the cow for my class. We have to train a cow, mine's never really been handled before. Anyways back to the point at hand why I left.....
1.) people are ALWAYS late to chores. I really think they just dont care because they dont have any commitments afterwards. When they are late to chores that usually makes ME late for class.... ex: yesterday I was on for 7am turnout. One of the girls (there are 3 people for this chore) didnt show up, so i called her after 25 minutes..no answer left a message then 10 minutes later she calls and says she will be on her way. Needless to say we didnt get done till 8:30 (normally get done quarter of 8 till about 8 depending on the day) I didnt get back to my room till quarter of 9...and I have class @ 9! *grrr* again not the only time this happens
2.)The hose burst AGAIN! they bought a new hose about a month ago. The last one kept breaking so badly we had to carry the individual water buckets for every horse. each horse has 2 buckets and we have 32 stalls if I remember correctly. So that is 64 buckets we need to carry to each horse...not to mention we have to give water to the sheep too. Last week I told them that the hose was buckling in like a hundred spots!!! Literally. the black underlining was showing through the green, and was slowly leaking. Well it finally burst in a couple places all over the cement. Which of course are large patches of sheer ice now.... not the most safe thing. Which is what they are supposedly wanting to avoid...yet we STILL dont have a new hose..
3.) I got a wonderful email from one of the co-barn managers saying that we didnt open the stall doors all the way and that 10 of them were not closed all the way by a couple of inches, and this was unsafe for the horses to exit the stalls. WTF an inch or two.... I don't see what the problem is? its not like we are leaving the door only half open and expecting the horses to walk through. AND THEN! she had the gall to say this......
**When you slide/push the door back, it should be lined up with the stall wall, (i.e. your hand should be able to be relatively flat against both the stall door and the wall to which the grain door is attached). If you would like a demonstration, feel free to ask Becky or myself. ***
A demonstration! to open a DOOR! WTF I've been working with horses for the last 9 YEARS!!! I dont need a demonstration on how to open a fucking DOOR! whatever though right? Leaving the door not open completely by an inch or two really puts a horse in danger....not the ice thats all over the floor, or the glare ice at the paddock gates, or the fact that people never spread hay out so the horses wont fight over it. Or the fact that they forget to water them frequently? OR the fact that they feed them incorrectly and have a 2 year old filly (that JUST turned 2 btw, the whole Jan. 1st increase the year thing) is on Prefromance..and has been since she was weaned!!!! And then they were wondering why she could be having hock problems....Or the mare that is currently pregnant that is on Preformance. WTF.
Anyways I am very shocked at how some of these things are run. I hate it, its inefficient, not the best for the animals, and some of those in charge (currently) seem to me, to have a power trip. Whatever.
The equine trainer asked us to stay, and was sorry to see us (meaning me and amy) go because we were the best ones they had, she didnt have to worry what we were doing with our assigned horses. Oh well. I dont know if i believe it or not.... I dont like her training methods either. she is teaching the horses to be down and round perfectly from the second you get on... I dont think that is right and it severly limits what they can be used for in the future. Beating them to keep their head perfect isnt doing anything good over all. Ok enough ranting now.
So as of last night I have resigned. Now I can start talking about peaches...shes a heifer...but oh well.
kim~
1.) people are ALWAYS late to chores. I really think they just dont care because they dont have any commitments afterwards. When they are late to chores that usually makes ME late for class.... ex: yesterday I was on for 7am turnout. One of the girls (there are 3 people for this chore) didnt show up, so i called her after 25 minutes..no answer left a message then 10 minutes later she calls and says she will be on her way. Needless to say we didnt get done till 8:30 (normally get done quarter of 8 till about 8 depending on the day) I didnt get back to my room till quarter of 9...and I have class @ 9! *grrr* again not the only time this happens
2.)The hose burst AGAIN! they bought a new hose about a month ago. The last one kept breaking so badly we had to carry the individual water buckets for every horse. each horse has 2 buckets and we have 32 stalls if I remember correctly. So that is 64 buckets we need to carry to each horse...not to mention we have to give water to the sheep too. Last week I told them that the hose was buckling in like a hundred spots!!! Literally. the black underlining was showing through the green, and was slowly leaking. Well it finally burst in a couple places all over the cement. Which of course are large patches of sheer ice now.... not the most safe thing. Which is what they are supposedly wanting to avoid...yet we STILL dont have a new hose..
3.) I got a wonderful email from one of the co-barn managers saying that we didnt open the stall doors all the way and that 10 of them were not closed all the way by a couple of inches, and this was unsafe for the horses to exit the stalls. WTF an inch or two.... I don't see what the problem is? its not like we are leaving the door only half open and expecting the horses to walk through. AND THEN! she had the gall to say this......
**When you slide/push the door back, it should be lined up with the stall wall, (i.e. your hand should be able to be relatively flat against both the stall door and the wall to which the grain door is attached). If you would like a demonstration, feel free to ask Becky or myself. ***
A demonstration! to open a DOOR! WTF I've been working with horses for the last 9 YEARS!!! I dont need a demonstration on how to open a fucking DOOR! whatever though right? Leaving the door not open completely by an inch or two really puts a horse in danger....not the ice thats all over the floor, or the glare ice at the paddock gates, or the fact that people never spread hay out so the horses wont fight over it. Or the fact that they forget to water them frequently? OR the fact that they feed them incorrectly and have a 2 year old filly (that JUST turned 2 btw, the whole Jan. 1st increase the year thing) is on Prefromance..and has been since she was weaned!!!! And then they were wondering why she could be having hock problems....Or the mare that is currently pregnant that is on Preformance. WTF.
Anyways I am very shocked at how some of these things are run. I hate it, its inefficient, not the best for the animals, and some of those in charge (currently) seem to me, to have a power trip. Whatever.
The equine trainer asked us to stay, and was sorry to see us (meaning me and amy) go because we were the best ones they had, she didnt have to worry what we were doing with our assigned horses. Oh well. I dont know if i believe it or not.... I dont like her training methods either. she is teaching the horses to be down and round perfectly from the second you get on... I dont think that is right and it severly limits what they can be used for in the future. Beating them to keep their head perfect isnt doing anything good over all. Ok enough ranting now.
So as of last night I have resigned. Now I can start talking about peaches...shes a heifer...but oh well.
kim~
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Casting
Last night when me and amy went to the farm for night check @ 10pm we found that beau had casted herself. For those of you who do not know what casting is, it is when a horse rolls in their stall, but roles all the way over. So that they are right next to the wall with their legs tucked against their belly but they are laying on their side. The wall being so close makes it so they cant get up. VERY BAD for the horse!!!!! Poor thing, she was like that for up to 4 hours. Took two of us to drag her head away enough so that she could pivot and get up.
But she is up now, and doing much better. She went to the bathroom the second she was up. I didnt think she was gonna stop peeing at first ha! Thats it for horse news this weekend was WAY to busy to even contemplate going out to ride.
kim~
But she is up now, and doing much better. She went to the bathroom the second she was up. I didnt think she was gonna stop peeing at first ha! Thats it for horse news this weekend was WAY to busy to even contemplate going out to ride.
kim~
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Training 4 test
Today in my dressage lesson I rode Ty. He was good today, not fighting with him :). I like those days. We just worked on my test for the IDA show April 2nd. I am probably going to show @ the puckerbrush dressage shows April 3rd and May 1st as well. :)
Anyways, the practice test went well. I know it finally, and can remember it while doing it. Which is always a big step for me. Sandy said I did very well, and it felt like a good test so i was very satisfied. We just did walk, trot, and canter work. Nothing special mainly just making sure my hands and seat were correct, the stuff they would look for in the test. I tend to not use my seat bones completely when cantering so I've been working on really sitting deeply while cantering. We also worked on smooth transitions and such. Ty has a horrible sense of transitions.
No matter what you do when you ask to down transition from a trot to a walk he automatically stops and then walks forward. We've tried everything to get him NOT to do that. His Canter/trot transitions are really nice as long as you are the one asking for it. He does this thing were when you do a circle at E, and when you come back to E and start to go straight instead of do another circle he will just stop. Its very annoying. When they first got him at Puckerbrush he would just stop in the middle. He doesnt do that anymore, but still does it at other stages. So we have to make sure we snap him before he gets a chance to do it again. Very frustrating. But again it was a satisfying lesson. :)
Very very busy end of the week for me. More after my jumping lesson on monday.
kim~
Anyways, the practice test went well. I know it finally, and can remember it while doing it. Which is always a big step for me. Sandy said I did very well, and it felt like a good test so i was very satisfied. We just did walk, trot, and canter work. Nothing special mainly just making sure my hands and seat were correct, the stuff they would look for in the test. I tend to not use my seat bones completely when cantering so I've been working on really sitting deeply while cantering. We also worked on smooth transitions and such. Ty has a horrible sense of transitions.
No matter what you do when you ask to down transition from a trot to a walk he automatically stops and then walks forward. We've tried everything to get him NOT to do that. His Canter/trot transitions are really nice as long as you are the one asking for it. He does this thing were when you do a circle at E, and when you come back to E and start to go straight instead of do another circle he will just stop. Its very annoying. When they first got him at Puckerbrush he would just stop in the middle. He doesnt do that anymore, but still does it at other stages. So we have to make sure we snap him before he gets a chance to do it again. Very frustrating. But again it was a satisfying lesson. :)
Very very busy end of the week for me. More after my jumping lesson on monday.
kim~
Trail Ride
I am in high hopes that spring is on its way...but incase it gets cold again we decided to absorb as much of this nice weather as possible! So Me and Tory, and Amy and Dewey (dewey the horse, and shes another University owned Standardbred.), went out on a trail ride. We rode up the access road (connecting the farm to the campus), then walked down the edge of campus, through the Orchard Parking Lot, past the back side of a bunch of dorms, the two commons, and such, and went up the bike trail back to the farm. It took us about 45 minutes to an hour, and we walked the whole way. It was so nice. I think the girls were happy to get out.
A couple brightly clad joggers came up behind us and Tory didnt like it. She has issues with people, dogs, whatever running up at her from behind. These two guys were running at a decent pace and they were dressed in VERY bright colors, reds, yellows, etc. I dunno if it was the color or not, but before that a girl jogged past us and Tory was fine, and then after this brightly clad duo left us, a couple of our professors (oddly enough) jogged past and she was fine yet again. Anyways when these two came up behind us she started doing these little rears and quivering as if she wanted to bolt. I kept her in one spot though it was taking quite a bit. Finally they realized that she didnt like THEM, and they slowed to a walk, and asked If i would like them to walk by, and me thinking OF COURSE are you STUPID? But instead just said if you wouldn't mind. And so they went past at a walk, and one of them said your horse (Dewey) is foaming at the mouth. This of course made us laugh, we said its a good thing and they were on their way.
So that was the excitement of our ride. Got a lot of odd looks from people from campus who obviously had never seen any of us riding the edge of campus. All in all it was great.
We have day old lambs at the farm, they are so cute, all black with little dark blue blankets on them. Just so adorable. Its calving time too. So far we have had 3 male calves!!!! The fourth was born last night, but when we arrived for night check he had been crushed by his mom (she laid on him we determined). He was born between the last milking and nightcheck so we dont really know the exact time he was born, the poor thing. Rudy (the mom) was trying to get him to stand, she kept licking him. This whole working with cows thing is not really suiting me...but I have to do it. I was assigned a dairy heifer named Peaches to work with and train, to show in the Orono Royal the last sat of april. It shall be interesting. I hate how dirty cows are...so peaches will be the cleanest cow EVER! I just cant stand dirty cows, it makes them smell bad, and look disgusting. This one is just under a year old, and has never been worked with so this ought to be interesting. Done for now....Dressage lesson in the afternoon tomorrow.
A couple brightly clad joggers came up behind us and Tory didnt like it. She has issues with people, dogs, whatever running up at her from behind. These two guys were running at a decent pace and they were dressed in VERY bright colors, reds, yellows, etc. I dunno if it was the color or not, but before that a girl jogged past us and Tory was fine, and then after this brightly clad duo left us, a couple of our professors (oddly enough) jogged past and she was fine yet again. Anyways when these two came up behind us she started doing these little rears and quivering as if she wanted to bolt. I kept her in one spot though it was taking quite a bit. Finally they realized that she didnt like THEM, and they slowed to a walk, and asked If i would like them to walk by, and me thinking OF COURSE are you STUPID? But instead just said if you wouldn't mind. And so they went past at a walk, and one of them said your horse (Dewey) is foaming at the mouth. This of course made us laugh, we said its a good thing and they were on their way.
So that was the excitement of our ride. Got a lot of odd looks from people from campus who obviously had never seen any of us riding the edge of campus. All in all it was great.
We have day old lambs at the farm, they are so cute, all black with little dark blue blankets on them. Just so adorable. Its calving time too. So far we have had 3 male calves!!!! The fourth was born last night, but when we arrived for night check he had been crushed by his mom (she laid on him we determined). He was born between the last milking and nightcheck so we dont really know the exact time he was born, the poor thing. Rudy (the mom) was trying to get him to stand, she kept licking him. This whole working with cows thing is not really suiting me...but I have to do it. I was assigned a dairy heifer named Peaches to work with and train, to show in the Orono Royal the last sat of april. It shall be interesting. I hate how dirty cows are...so peaches will be the cleanest cow EVER! I just cant stand dirty cows, it makes them smell bad, and look disgusting. This one is just under a year old, and has never been worked with so this ought to be interesting. Done for now....Dressage lesson in the afternoon tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Jumping lesson :)
Well we had a jumping lesson today! YIPPEE! lets hope we wont have any more lessons cancelled. Spring is on the way!!! I rode Ty he is about 9 years old I believe, though not a hundred percent sure. Anyways he is a Hanovarian that was trained for Dressage, and was even used for the IDA shows. Jumping is suposedly not new to him....but that isnt really too believable. He is doing remarkably better than the last time I jumped him (it was about 3 months ago and one of his first times we had ever done so). Bryn said she had been riding him a bit lately and it shows.
He is actually jumping the jumps now (well most of them, he sorta throws himself through them, and doesnt really pick up his feet, but again he is doing better...hehehehe) Anyways well we went over a few jumps and he was shooting around like a rocket, pulling the reins from my hands and jutting to the right just after the jump. So we started to have him do a shoulder in, on the approach to the jumps, that helped quite a bit to keep him from bolting to the right. It was a constant battle of half halts and keeping his head up so he wouldnt pull the reins out of my hands. So we got some good lines in over a set of 3 oxers...but most ended up in him pulling my arms out of the sockets and jutting to the right. We did some "courses" to swap things up and that went pretty well. Except that if the fence was bigger than 2'6" he would crash through.
And then I almost fell off (and I am still surprised I stayed on!!) he crased through an oxer and tripped, and went down a little, and I lost my stirrups which caused him to spook to the right (they were clanking I think?) and then back to the left, were I accidentally snapped him with the whip and caused him to skid to the right again *sigh* anyways I was preparing to fall but then when he scooted back over I didnt because he was under me again. hehehe. So I regained my stirrups and went on to the next jump :). Other than that he did this weird half rear thing because I was sick of having him be all over the place and was really holding him where I wanted. So overall the jumping aspect was great. A good training experiance for both of us :).
About half way through we stopped jumping and did some dressage stuff for about 15 minutes to get his mind away from jumping for a bit. That was amazing. I havent had him move like that, and be that collected and supple since I've been riding him in lessons! He was listening to my legs and seat (stopped on a dime with my seat. normally he will take a few steps) We did some leg yeilds. Oh and we even did some flying lead changes while doing serpentines...this wasnt as nice because it was before we started jumping, but I bet they would have been beautiful if I was doing them after the jumping. Can't ask for TOO much though. Overall I am very satisfied with my lesson, and my own personaly preformance *grin*. Not nearly as dissapointed this time.
kim~
He is actually jumping the jumps now (well most of them, he sorta throws himself through them, and doesnt really pick up his feet, but again he is doing better...hehehehe) Anyways well we went over a few jumps and he was shooting around like a rocket, pulling the reins from my hands and jutting to the right just after the jump. So we started to have him do a shoulder in, on the approach to the jumps, that helped quite a bit to keep him from bolting to the right. It was a constant battle of half halts and keeping his head up so he wouldnt pull the reins out of my hands. So we got some good lines in over a set of 3 oxers...but most ended up in him pulling my arms out of the sockets and jutting to the right. We did some "courses" to swap things up and that went pretty well. Except that if the fence was bigger than 2'6" he would crash through.
And then I almost fell off (and I am still surprised I stayed on!!) he crased through an oxer and tripped, and went down a little, and I lost my stirrups which caused him to spook to the right (they were clanking I think?) and then back to the left, were I accidentally snapped him with the whip and caused him to skid to the right again *sigh* anyways I was preparing to fall but then when he scooted back over I didnt because he was under me again. hehehe. So I regained my stirrups and went on to the next jump :). Other than that he did this weird half rear thing because I was sick of having him be all over the place and was really holding him where I wanted. So overall the jumping aspect was great. A good training experiance for both of us :).
About half way through we stopped jumping and did some dressage stuff for about 15 minutes to get his mind away from jumping for a bit. That was amazing. I havent had him move like that, and be that collected and supple since I've been riding him in lessons! He was listening to my legs and seat (stopped on a dime with my seat. normally he will take a few steps) We did some leg yeilds. Oh and we even did some flying lead changes while doing serpentines...this wasnt as nice because it was before we started jumping, but I bet they would have been beautiful if I was doing them after the jumping. Can't ask for TOO much though. Overall I am very satisfied with my lesson, and my own personaly preformance *grin*. Not nearly as dissapointed this time.
kim~
Monday, February 14, 2005
this is just before he spooked over the doorway (someone was walking past) and was just after he spooked over the snow that was on the "inside" oh no! He thought it was going to eat him all up...hehehe
Posted by Hello
This was a very dark picture, so when I added light to it, it became pretty much black and white. Its a good picture of us though.
Posted by Hello
Friday, February 11, 2005
3rd Level School Master
Well me and dew braved the storm so I could get in a Dressage lesson on a 3rd level School master, named Ike, before he left for New Hampshire. He is classically trained, and its the first time I have ever ridden a horse like him. It was a great confidence booster from my last ride. Because he could do it, we worked on haunches in, shoulders in, and leg yeilding. Once I found all the right buttons we were working together wonderfully. It was great. Definately my most favorite lesson in awhile. I felt as if I was actually accomplishing something. After we were doing these movements quite fluidly we moved on to the canter.......This was interesting....and after about 15 minutes of laughter and lots of grunting we did it ha! I really dont know why their is such a difference between cantering a classically trained horse and a regular trained horse, but there is! I've never had such a problem with cantering!
Sandy (the dressage club's coach) and Bryn (the barn manager, and was watching with a little too much enthusiasm..ha!) were both trying to explain the difference to me, but kept insisting that basically I just needed to "find" it. That they themselves had the same problem. But when I finally did get it, it was super easy. I wish he could stay longer, because I know it would still take me a little bit to get it the next time. Lets just hope I dont get one of these classically trained horses assigned at the IDA show in April.....That could spell disaster.
Anyways I posted a few pictures that dew took of us :)
Sandy (the dressage club's coach) and Bryn (the barn manager, and was watching with a little too much enthusiasm..ha!) were both trying to explain the difference to me, but kept insisting that basically I just needed to "find" it. That they themselves had the same problem. But when I finally did get it, it was super easy. I wish he could stay longer, because I know it would still take me a little bit to get it the next time. Lets just hope I dont get one of these classically trained horses assigned at the IDA show in April.....That could spell disaster.
Anyways I posted a few pictures that dew took of us :)
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Vaccinations...not so fun...
Well today was quite eventful. I managed to vaccinate MYSELF with some cow vaccine against the "clostridium" virus. I dont know the correct spelling but thats how it sounds. One of my classes at school requires me to work with the cows at witter. We have beef and dairy cattle. Holsteins, black angus, and belties. We were vaccinating the pregnant cows so that when they start calving in a few weeks the babies will all be protected against the virus.
Yes I stabbed myself with a needled filled with the vaccine. I had put the cap on too tight so was pulling hard to get it off and well, you know what happens when you try to overcorrect yourself. It went all the way through my pointer finger on my left hand. It bled quite a bit, but its fine for the most part. It was sterile, hadnt been in any cows yet, or touched anything else except the bottle of the vaccine. Anyways so its realy sore and I cant bend it, but I can type with little pain??? very odd.
Anyways so I rode Tory bareback and we just lots and lots of circles walking, bending and all that jazz ;). That way there would be no cow kicking and any reason to hurt my finger more. It was so relaxing just to walk around it was great. I just sorta zoned out at the end and we just sorta walked and walked. I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it, but I really did. She listened well. I think that is mainly due to the fact that it was bareback. She was bending really nicely in comparison to how she normally is. Probably due to the fact that there wasnt a saddle in the way of her fat belly. I can't wait till all the snow is gone (I am just ignoring the fact that we are getting atleast a foot of snow in the next couple of days). When its gone I'm gonna do some groundpole work with her, so I can get that canter going :). More of that when the time comes.
My Dew is coming to see me tonight, because our anniversary is this sunday. 4 years! He's so great.
kim~
Yes I stabbed myself with a needled filled with the vaccine. I had put the cap on too tight so was pulling hard to get it off and well, you know what happens when you try to overcorrect yourself. It went all the way through my pointer finger on my left hand. It bled quite a bit, but its fine for the most part. It was sterile, hadnt been in any cows yet, or touched anything else except the bottle of the vaccine. Anyways so its realy sore and I cant bend it, but I can type with little pain??? very odd.
Anyways so I rode Tory bareback and we just lots and lots of circles walking, bending and all that jazz ;). That way there would be no cow kicking and any reason to hurt my finger more. It was so relaxing just to walk around it was great. I just sorta zoned out at the end and we just sorta walked and walked. I'm not sure how much she enjoyed it, but I really did. She listened well. I think that is mainly due to the fact that it was bareback. She was bending really nicely in comparison to how she normally is. Probably due to the fact that there wasnt a saddle in the way of her fat belly. I can't wait till all the snow is gone (I am just ignoring the fact that we are getting atleast a foot of snow in the next couple of days). When its gone I'm gonna do some groundpole work with her, so I can get that canter going :). More of that when the time comes.
My Dew is coming to see me tonight, because our anniversary is this sunday. 4 years! He's so great.
kim~
Friday, February 04, 2005
The fat little Tory pony
I posted a few pictures of Tory so those of you reading can have a visual of my fat little standardbred that I work with at the Witter Center here at school. She's a wicked cutie but can be such a brat!!
Also I was told I wasn't paying enough attention to my lovely fiance on my blog so I loves you my Dewhound. hehehehehe mushy mushy mushy
Also I was told I wasn't paying enough attention to my lovely fiance on my blog so I loves you my Dewhound. hehehehehe mushy mushy mushy
YEAH its warm
Well our last lesson was cancelled....Sandy (our dressage team coach) was sick.....but we went out for a practice ride this last tues. I rode Scarlett, a very cute 8 year old thoroughbred mare. She is Marie's mare. She is a dressage club member. Scarlett is up for sale because she wants a horse more suited for eventing, can't say that I blame her. When I asked her to canter she got 2 good bucks in, but a tap with the whip and she was done testing me. Towards the end of the hour she was going nicely.
What is it with me being attracted to horses that like to buck? I rode tory yesterday in the OUTDOOR whooooo WHO! it was so great. It was nice to get out and not be in the cramped and dusty excuse for an indoor. (Its basically a little longer than a 20 meter circle, and you can not fit more than one horse and rider in at once, and its surrounded by 5 foot walls) Anyways, Tory was being as stubborn as ever, she doesnt like to work I have decided. We did some trotting nothing major the snow was too deep to really work on anything, but of course I felt like asking for a canter, because we've been indoors for over a month! She hates to be asked to canter, and she got a few really good bucks in. I was surprised because normally shes just a cowkicking machine, but for some reason she was in the mood to really go all out. I did get her to canter down the long side and so I finished off with a good note trotted a little more at a more collected and sane speed.
Well today we finally got a Dressage lesson in. I rode Fritz. He is this cute little grey pony thats 4 years old. We practiced our Training Four test for the IDA show in april. I kept forgetting parts but he was fun to ride all the same. He was only a bad boy once. We were doing a canter circle at E to the right. He decided to go left just before we reached the opposite wall. Which of course threw us both off balance the little brat. I guess he started to do that with a couple of the little lesson girls. Poor things, something like that can really shatter a little girl's confidence. So we fixed the direction into going BACK the way we were supposed to be heading and tried again. The second I felt him start to lean to switch direction I gave him a good smack with the whip and he changed his mind real quick. And then he went back to being a good little pony.
Overall though I felt very sloppy and wrong. My back was sore from constantly trying to keep my position. I dont know if it was because of this little green pony? or because it has been so long since i've had to actually ride in a lesson. I havent had a lesson in over a month because of 3 weeks of cancellations due to cold and sickness, and 3 weeks off for winter break. Atleast that is what I am assuming. I dont have a clue, my back is still sore and I am very tired after a week of studing and exams (my last one is tomorrow morning). *phew* wish me luck, I hope next week's lesson is more fulfilling.
What is it with me being attracted to horses that like to buck? I rode tory yesterday in the OUTDOOR whooooo WHO! it was so great. It was nice to get out and not be in the cramped and dusty excuse for an indoor. (Its basically a little longer than a 20 meter circle, and you can not fit more than one horse and rider in at once, and its surrounded by 5 foot walls) Anyways, Tory was being as stubborn as ever, she doesnt like to work I have decided. We did some trotting nothing major the snow was too deep to really work on anything, but of course I felt like asking for a canter, because we've been indoors for over a month! She hates to be asked to canter, and she got a few really good bucks in. I was surprised because normally shes just a cowkicking machine, but for some reason she was in the mood to really go all out. I did get her to canter down the long side and so I finished off with a good note trotted a little more at a more collected and sane speed.
Well today we finally got a Dressage lesson in. I rode Fritz. He is this cute little grey pony thats 4 years old. We practiced our Training Four test for the IDA show in april. I kept forgetting parts but he was fun to ride all the same. He was only a bad boy once. We were doing a canter circle at E to the right. He decided to go left just before we reached the opposite wall. Which of course threw us both off balance the little brat. I guess he started to do that with a couple of the little lesson girls. Poor things, something like that can really shatter a little girl's confidence. So we fixed the direction into going BACK the way we were supposed to be heading and tried again. The second I felt him start to lean to switch direction I gave him a good smack with the whip and he changed his mind real quick. And then he went back to being a good little pony.
Overall though I felt very sloppy and wrong. My back was sore from constantly trying to keep my position. I dont know if it was because of this little green pony? or because it has been so long since i've had to actually ride in a lesson. I havent had a lesson in over a month because of 3 weeks of cancellations due to cold and sickness, and 3 weeks off for winter break. Atleast that is what I am assuming. I dont have a clue, my back is still sore and I am very tired after a week of studing and exams (my last one is tomorrow morning). *phew* wish me luck, I hope next week's lesson is more fulfilling.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
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