canter canter

I really like this one too bad its blurry around the edges 

canter with reflection

 

cranking the head

 

canter canter

 

Free walk

 

Walk at C

 

2nd canter circle....

 

Canter Circle in test

 

trotting warmup

I like the angle of this photo too. 

Canter warm up

I love this picture :) 

Warm up

 

UNH show :)

First canter circle in Training Test 4. I got 4th place at this show. I am SOOOO proud of myself. I'm riding "snowy". 

So much going on!

Amy yelled at me for not keeping up with my blog so here goes. I've been super super busy. I've been having weekly lessons in dressage as usual, and trying to fit in jumping/huntseat lessons as much as possible. My last lesson was a jumping lesson on a wonderful Stdbred mare named Legacy (legs for short). She is just an awesome jumper, and would be SOOO happy to do it all the time. Her owner is a young girl (about 12 I'm guessing) and she is afriad to jump and so Legacy isn't allowed to just go over a fence. For the most part if you let her go, she will do it! She's such a good girl. I'm not sure how high the fences were. We were doing 4 jumps three were seperated by 2 strides and the last was a 3 stride The first 2 i'm think we topped at 2 feet??? and the last was 3 feet? i'm not super sure. I'm not a good judge of hieght. All I know is that they were reasonable heights and a lot of fun.
The lesson before that was on Bug, the new puckerbrush lesson horse. The lesson went absolutely horrible! I ended up sobbing. NOT a good thing. I'm not typically an emotional person, but I just lost it. I think I made my instructor nervous because normally i'm like whatever lets do it. Ah wells.
OH and my dressage schooling show. I did pretty well. I am very proud of myself about that show. I didn't get all worked up and panicky. I went in, rode my test and that was that. It was a great feeling to not have my heart feel like it was going to leap from my chest, and be all sweaty and shaking and naseaus! I got two fourth places. Both tests were Training 4 and on both tests I got a 55.385. One was the "reride" class were basically people enter to do their tests again. The reride there were only 4 people in the class (so i got last obviously) and the other one had 6 if I remember correctly. I mostly got 5's and 6's but I did get a 7 on the last movement of the test. turn left at E, left at X, stop salute at G. I've been working on my corners all summer so I'm happy about that :).
This coming weekend is the Leslie Cline clinic and the dressage club gets to have 6 people go for free (I'm one yeah!), and then the 4 weekends of shows start. Hunt seat/dressage it shall be interesting. Ok I'm updated I believe *grin* *poof*
kim~

Lesson on Chip

I know its been awhile....I've been riding regularly, I've just been so busy! I rode Chip today at Puckerbrush. He is a quarter horse, not sure of his age, but he's a real sweetie. The lesson itself was horrible, or rather I felt horrible. Like I couldnt get myself together, the last few minutes wasn't too bad. I'm going to be riding him in Training 4 this Sunday at the Puckerbrush school show. I was going to ride him a couple weekends ago in the Prix Caprilli (dressage test w/jumps) but we ended up cancelling the trip do to the weather. I can't wait till this weekend, I want to show so badly!
I made the Dressage team for Training 4. And we are doing two IDA shows. I've also decided to do some showing with the equestrain team, so I will be doing 3 shows with them :). Very exciting! Accomplishing all this is going to be a real juggling act!
I miss riding Boo already, I really liked that mare. Chip is nice, but he doesnt seem to have as much personality, and the other puckerbrush lesson horses I don't enjoy riding at all! Ce la ve.
kim~

Summer wrap up

Well the last few weeks of the summer were so hectic I completely forgot to record my riding. My last few lessons included riding Boo :), and clippy. Robyn wanted me to ride another horse to see how far that i've prgressed. Its hard to realize that when riding Boo because she is still learning everything. It was a good lesson with clippy. I feel like things are finally starting to click together for me. The way Robyn teaches is just so helpful, she makes it easy to understand what I should be feeling. The last lesson Amy and Glo came out to watch :). Robyn said I could ride anyone that I wanted and to no ones surprise I picked Boo. I miss her already, i've learned so much from her. Hopefully I can get in for a lesson with her on October break :). I have my first lesson of the semester with Sandy at Puckerbrush tomorrow. Its a private for an hour! I've been taking private half hour lessons all summer. Robyn makes me work HARD too. I haven't been that winded after a ride in a LONG time, so we shall see how I can hold up to my hour private. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things at school. My last year :). Lots of IDA shows to look forward to! I just hope I pass tryouts :)
kim~

Boo :)

Did I ever mention that boo is a Appaloosa~! very hard to believe isnt it! anyways, this is my second to last week riding boo before I go back to school. I've learned so much from her. Today we did some canter work doing a diamond. It was a great improvement from last time. She actually listened to me as I asked her to move on the corners, instead of moving because she would otherwise run into the wall! It was a great lesson, but unfortunately I don't have a lot to write about it. We did trotting serpinetines, and we worked on putting her weight back on her hindquarters and lifting in the front. Lots of turns on the haunches and such. I'm going to miss riding with Robyn.

Boo the Gazelle

When I went out to my lesson this morning I had discovered that Boo had been painted to look like a gazelle. My Instructor Robyn dressed the ponies up as African animals because her friend was leaving to live in africa for two years! Anyways Boo still had white and black stripes painted on her. It was very silly to look at!

Our lesson went well today. I was getting a little frustrated because I didn't think I was doing it correctly. She was having me do turns on the haunches so that she would start using her hind end more and to "pick up" her front end. We did them in a diamond shape. Towards the end it felt as though I was getting it more. She had me use a whip to push her shoulder over. Basically I laid it against her shoulder and applied pressure when I wanted her to move. She was steering a lot better when we were done. Its amazing that I can learn so much at the same time as she is learning! It was a good lesson overall. Even though I was really frustrated I did eventually feel it. Doing it at the canter felt very rushed and such. But she was turning when I asked even if everything else had fallen apart. ;). Till next week *poof*

four 

three 

two 

another sequence sorry its on its side, but you can see the movement :) 

five 

three 

the sequence begins 

too bad i have to be on the upward post 

boo 

Stretchy :) 

Leg yeilding with Boo

Well on Monday I rode Boo. I love riding her! I rode Joey last week. I forgot to publish that one. Joey is good, we worked on corners and turning and such. I know it sounds boring but it was a really good lesson. Joey really will take you through the corners to where she thinks you should go, so it was quite a bit of work to get her to listen on my cue to turn. We made progress at the end of the lesson though. We did some canter work too, and it felt a lot better. I felt more together with her, it was great. Its great to be feeling progress.

Well when I rode Boo we worked on her listening to my leg aids better instead of just going faster when she feels my leg. Thats the problem with her, you ask her to move over and she goes faster. Its sorta annoying, but she is doing good. So we did some leg yeilds down the wall so that she had to listen to my leg. It was great. I was really getting it at the end. Before when I was doing leg yeilding work I didn't really understand exactly what you were supposed to be doing with your body and legs. I think I am really starting to get it. We also worked on bending and counter bending circles and lines to get her more flexible as well as more willing to listen to the aids. It was a great lesson. I will ride her again next week. Even though she is a novice horse, I feel as though I am learning SOOOO much on her! I'll post some pictures. I gotta go for now
kim~

Chicken and the Tractor
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