I had many great horsey experiences in 2019! I am really pleased with how the year went overall; nothing is ever perfect, but both horses are sound, happy, and healthy, which is really what matters to me. Some of my 2019 goals were met easily or with lots of hard work, and a few of them were utter fails haha. C'est la vie! Let's recap! Happy, health, sound Both mares are doing well in this regard! Dreamy will be 29 this year, and while she definitely shows signs of her age at times, she overall looks and acts much younger than she really is! Ellie has really matured this year, filling out as well as mentally becoming more comfortable in her own skin. As she will be eight this year, I feel like we have moved through the baby phase. having this photo shoot was definitely a highlight of 2019! Continue lessons with Beth and Babette This goal was met and then some! I took almost weekly dressage lessons with Beth and monthly jump lessons with Babette. Thanks to the
Today I jumped Dreamy a bit, in preparation for our next horse trial on August 12. I am very conservative with how much I jump her and how high; at age 21 she doesn't need any extra wear and tear on her joints. Today I figured it was time to raise the jumps a bit (since BN is 2'7", which is pretty much the highest I will jump her). Plus, we needed to school a skinny, since we had a run out at one as the second element of a one stride back in June when we last competed. I shamefully admit I don't have short poles, so I had my dad cut one of my regular 10' poles in half. I figured if we school a 5' skinny at home, the 6' ones at shows will seem easier. She was great over the skinny vertical! She wanted to hesitate the first time through (it was just a small 2'6"ish - though I never measured it) and when I put my leg on she overjumped it. The next time through was much better, and then by the third time she jumped it like all the other wider j