After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time! most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the
Well, after the two-day clinic with Ashley, I gave Ellie exactly 11 days off and then hopped on her for a lazy hack on Friday the 13th. We toddled around in the pasture and up and down the driveway, as everything was frozen. Thankfully, there was no ice but the footing still wasn't ideal for much.
Though I had intended to give Ellie most (if not all) of December off, I jumped on the chance to do a Pony Club lesson with Tom Davis at Swan Brook Equestrian Center. This is Lauren's farm, the Atlantic PC's coach. It was a bit of a last-minute decision, hence the reason I got on Ellie on Friday haha. It POURED all day Saturday, so I knew if I wanted a semi-sane horse for Sunday's clinic, I needed to ride at least briefly on Friday.
Spoiler alert: She was fine both days.
Trying to attend anything in December in Maine with a horse is tough. I was lucky that the day was sunny, the roads were bare, and most importantly, my steep dirt driveway was clear with no ice! That is even more amazing after it poured all day Saturday, but the temps were in the mid-40s which meant no ice. Ellie trucked down to Swan Brook without issue, and I tacked her up inside the barn.
We shared our lesson with two other PCer's, one a D-1 and the other a D-2. It actually worked out fine as Tom was easily able to work with all three of us in the lesson, just raising and lowering fences as needed.
I like Tom's style and instruction very much. He honed in on how I have developed a bad habit of putting more weight in the outside of my foot, keeping my toes straight in more of a dressage angle. I definitely had a better base of support by distributing the weight evenly across my entire foot.
Ellie was great and I loved being able to do a little something fun despite the fact we are "on vacation" from training right now haha.
Though I had intended to give Ellie most (if not all) of December off, I jumped on the chance to do a Pony Club lesson with Tom Davis at Swan Brook Equestrian Center. This is Lauren's farm, the Atlantic PC's coach. It was a bit of a last-minute decision, hence the reason I got on Ellie on Friday haha. It POURED all day Saturday, so I knew if I wanted a semi-sane horse for Sunday's clinic, I needed to ride at least briefly on Friday.
Trying to attend anything in December in Maine with a horse is tough. I was lucky that the day was sunny, the roads were bare, and most importantly, my steep dirt driveway was clear with no ice! That is even more amazing after it poured all day Saturday, but the temps were in the mid-40s which meant no ice. Ellie trucked down to Swan Brook without issue, and I tacked her up inside the barn.
We shared our lesson with two other PCer's, one a D-1 and the other a D-2. It actually worked out fine as Tom was easily able to work with all three of us in the lesson, just raising and lowering fences as needed.
I like Tom's style and instruction very much. He honed in on how I have developed a bad habit of putting more weight in the outside of my foot, keeping my toes straight in more of a dressage angle. I definitely had a better base of support by distributing the weight evenly across my entire foot.
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| see how there is no weight in the big toe? yep, that's me 😑 taken from a Practical Horseman article |
It sounds like a good experience. I hear you about the roads. I'm wanting to travel out but am worried about ice.
ReplyDeleteI used to board at Tom's farm and rode with him a ton from 2008-2012, I'm so glad you liked his teaching style! I think he's a great clinician and especially good at schooling jumping like that.
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