ride in the rain.

I love my poneh, seriously she is amazing.

Joe was home and Smooshy was asleep so I had my first proper long ride on Sunday (as opposed to the "hop on, looook I'm riding" rides) Here are something I learned.

My muscles used to be reeeeeeeally strong, I wish I had appreciated them more, like when I had them. (please note the past tense)

All my saddles suck, since I was paying such close attention to my position I can't help but notice the dressage saddle tips me in a funny way. Saddle fitting is on the agenda this summer for sure.

Joy likes to spook, at chickens and things in the yard, probably because the yard is boring.

We like going fast, on the trails.

My mare is a snot to saddle and possibly always will be even when I have a better fitting saddle.

Spiral circles are one of the most useful training exercises for tense, high headed horses. (see below)

Joy is so remarkably sensitive it is ridiculous. Fun to ride, challenging to ride and totally ridiculous.

I was so completely happy to feel her be responsive and supple, we (obviously) haven't done much formal training lately. One exercise I particularly like is a spiral circle at the trot, you start out on a nice round circle and slowly spiral in  making it smaller and then out again until you reach the original size. Circle work is great for Joy since it forces her to slow down, balance, relax and stretch her body. The spiral is especially helpful because it requires her to focus on me instead of anticipating what comes next. It is super helpful for me to work on using my outside aides and staying focused.

Then it rained really, really hard.

Cranky day

Tried to register Poppy, apparently would be $250. to change her name, which is a bummer since her registered name sucks. I can't find my folder with the registration papers anyway and the Arab horse association won't let me update my membership because my email isn't right or somesuch. I thought about registering her as  National Show horse but due to her age it would be $500. to do it, so I am annoyed with the whole thing.

Supposed to take HiT's owner out on a trailride today, she hasn't called back so I don't know if I should wait to ride her or just ride her while it isn't raining. It has been rainy rainy lately, HiT was not pleased about going out in the pouring rain yesterday. otherwise she is doing good, trailer loading reliably and riding nice on the trails.

Tried the Chambon on Joy on Sunday, was very cool, I see why you wouldn't want to use it on a horse that was prone to falling on the forehand since it definitely shifts the weight down and forward but it was super effective in encouraging my high headed mare to drop her neck and relax forward. I am going to try using it  every couple of days to improve her muscling on topline. Once HiT is gone I will have my arena space back, until then I have to be content with lunging and trailriding. Her neck really is her biggest conformation flaw since it is so upright, coupled with the Arabian desire to look at everything and go all flatback and all leg moving when excited.What she needs is steady dressage work so I guess it is a good thing that I am going to be grounded from jumping and galloping soon.

I found the most lovely looking TB gelding, he is gorgeous and I have to stop looking at him since I can't afford to buy another horse even though he is off the track and not super expensive. He looks like he would make a nice jumper. Problem with not being wealthy and into horses is you can't buy the super nice horses to make yourself look good, you have to ride a client's nice horse or buy a cheap prospect with potential and bring them along. I do wish I had the money for him though since it would be good for him to have the winter off to adjust to being a horse before light work next spring when I am back in the saddle. Being broke sucks.

Going to work Joy and Poppy after lunch and then make some jam unless I get a call from HiT's owner.

today is full of riding horses, prepping the trailer, washing show clothes, cleaning tack and obsessively going over my dressage test in my head.

A enter working trot, C track Right

Don't mess up.

Even though no one is reading it to you and you have to know it allllll and don't have an "oh shit where do I go next" safety net of a soothing voice yelling for a 20 meter circle at A.

Don't get lost.

In which I post pictures of riding and helpful comments like "look up and stop making that stupid face"

Since I convinced my husband to take pictures last night of me riding in my new arena (don't get excited, it's just t-posts and tape, but it is weed whipped :) I have decided to start posting some pictures at the first of every month, for progress noting and critiquing.

It was a very nice ride, she was fairly relaxed and happy to work, despite the hay guy cutting in the back field and my diabolical plan to keep Baby Horse out of the arena failing. Worked a lot on transitions,circles and balance, she feels stiff right now. It is great to feel her relax and soften though, a great exercise for her is the constant circle, where we put in a ten meter circle go on the track for a few strides and put another one in, and repeat. If I really work on keeping my outside rein steady and give with my inside, and add a few little half halts she will soften nicely.

Overall I am happy with the pictures, I know my weak areas and the things Joy needs to improve in. I am not happy with the position the saddle is putting me in though, I am going to try a different pad and see if that improves it, I really feel I just need to bite the bullet and get her professionally fitted.

happy with her here,she is moving forward nicely

My leg is to far forward and I need  bend in my elbows.

Look up! and close your fingers

I would like to see her shifting more weight on her hind

Canter, upper body to far forward.

And in case you were wondering this is what an explodey bottle looks like.

I swear my brain has fallen out, day before yesterday I put a bottle of water in the freezer to cool it down for drinking fast, night before last we heard a weird popping sound and I couldn't figure out what it was, I just opened the freezer to get a Popsicle and there are glass shards form the Perrier bottle all over the freezer. I wouldn't be so hard on myself except I have been doing this shit all week, I'll be lucky if I don't burn the house down. 

So this is us now

 And this was us last year about the same time

So definitely an improvement there.
Except I think I look pudgier, but at least I am not throwing away contact. But time to start running again and try to convince my metabolism to do something rather then crawl around. Although to be perfectly honest I haven't done much in the way of dedicated exercise in awhile, unless sex counts.

 Now I need to go find some breakfast,since I have been neglecting feeding myself in favor of my blog, also going to take some ibuprofen and vitamin c, since all that weed whipping yesterday killed my shoulders and my allergies are crazy.

Eventing University was a complete success!

Joy was perfectly wonderful. We tried cross country and stadium for the first time, got some great dressage tips and hung out with some really nice people, especially the owner of Joy's new boyfriend, Baxter (she likes them tall, dark and handsome!) I am officially in love with eventing and I love being able to take my horse to new places and enjoy her.

On Sunday it was cold and windy, spitting snow in the early morning. We had Cross Country first which I was unsure about simply because I haven't done it but I decided to have a positive attitude and try my best. I shouldn't have worried! Joy was perfectly happy and we jumped a lot of great obstacles. It was a mixed group so we started out slow, the instructor Amy was super nice and encouraging. After some little logs we tried a ditch, bigger logs, a coop, a bench thingy and big jumps. We did most of the Beginner Novice jumps on the course and a few Novice ones. Most of the big stuff was around three feet tall and fairly wide and Joy was perfect. We had one refusal at the tire jump but she popped over it second try,and we jumped a lot of stuff. I need to work on keeping my shoulders back and collecting her before the jump so she has support to get over it.

Stadium was with the same instructor after a long break (I ate lunch and talked, Joy got to flirt with her new boyfriend) I haven't jumped courses in years so it was good practice for me to try and remember everything, we started over some little cross rails and progressed to a small course with one in and out and an oxer. We worked on staying balanced and relaxed with our rhythm (hard! she likes to speed) and me keeping a good position, I think if I had a jumping saddle it will help me keep the leg back but right now I just want one saddle that fits perfect, don't care what it is!

Dressage was good, there were only three of us and my friend (riding Joy's boyfriend) left after her horse came up lame :( So we worked on relaxation, rhythm  and balance.I wish I had dressage early in the day since that is a true portrait of how Joy is on a daily basis and not when she is kinda sleepy and mellow. But I still feel we got some good feed back on the areas we need to work on and I got some really nice connection with her, she looks like a totally different horse when she relaxes her neck down, We got some really nice basic exercises to work on balance and connection so that was super!.
 

Everyone was super friendly and nice, so different then the dressage show we went to last year! I got lots of nice compliments on Joy, on what a cute little jumper she is and how much personality she has. The jumping instructor was very encouraging of us sticking with the eventing and remarked on what a strong bond we have and how much Joy trusts me.

I am glad Joe didn't come with me, he would have been freezing cold and bored, not to mention worried about some of the jumps we did, I think he might like it if we played "my little pony" instead and I just brushed them a lot although he is very supportive and happy I am having fun, he just worries about me getting hurt. There was a professional photographer there so hopefully will be some good pictures soon, although I reckon I will look like a super dork in all of them.

All in all a wonderful experience and I am very happy to have gone, now I just need to get a job so we have some extra money this summer I can do more events :) The day after I was so sore, actually still am in spots, especially my inner thighs, abs and shoulders. Definitely going to keep up doing Pilates and start doing the evil that is Yoga.