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Showing posts with the label training

Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

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...

Sweet Summertime

Tomorrow will mark three weeks since school was released for the summer.  As a teacher, it is no secret that I LOVE summer with all my heart.  I love being home with my kids and I love having lots of time for horses. Sometimes I find it hard to figure out what to write here beyond lesson/ride recaps and horse shows haha.  I mean, there is a lot going on that I can share, but sometimes I wonder how much of that really matters to officially document.  It is boring to only write ride/show summaries or is it boring to write about the mundane parts of life?  I hate going too long without a post of some sort, so I am just going to write haha. We had an intense (for us) heat wave last week, with the temps in the 90s with the humidity not far behind, so after the show on Saturday , I gave her Sunday and Monday off.  Monday is her normal day off anyway, so I figured I would just pick things back up with a low key dressage ride on Tuesday.  I rode Tuesda...

Lessons and Progress

After starting summer vacation last Wednesday, this has been the first full week off.  It has been SUPER busy, but I cannot complain! this is one of my favorites of summer: lunch on the porch! Ellie and I have had three lessons this week, which is crazy.  I wish this was real life haha, but sadly it is just a fluke this week.  We took our regular weekly lesson on Sunday instead of Saturday, as my husband had a pull with his young steers on Saturday.  It was their second pull of the year/of their lives and they did well. the rare appearance of steers on the blog haha Then, of course, we had the XC clinic on Monday (her regular day off), so I gave her Tuesday off instead.  And now that summer has arrived, I moved my weekly dressage lessons to Wednesdays, so I figured what the heck, might as well start this week!  So that is how we ended up with lesson #3 of the week yesterday. Generally, with weekly lessons I have good homework to do ...

Overcoming the NOPE

On the whole, Ellie has been a fairly reasonable mare who has agreed to most of the things I have asked her to do.  She's really not the type of horse to refuse something (at least not so far) unless she is worried or is truly green about the situation. A few weeks ago, I introduced her to a small stream on a her first real solo trail ride.  She had no issue, mostly because it wasn't steep and there was very little water. Yesterday, we went a little further out on the trail to the second water crossing.  This is much more technical question for her.   There is a snowmobile bridge over the stream, which is not safe at all, so in order to continue down the trail, we have to go down to the left of the bridge.  It is a little steep and narrow, and there is more water though it doesn't move fast at all.  I have crossed it many times with both Snappy and Dreamy, so I know it is safe and doable.   The not safe snowmobile bridge over the strea...

Improving Communication

As with any relationship, good communication is key.  With Ellie being so green under saddle when I first bought her last fall, it took time to install the basics of communication.  She mostly understood leg meant go and reins meant turn or stop, but it was super basic and the human equivalent of baby babble haha. Obviously, the longer she has been under saddle, the more she has learned about communicating under saddle.  We have come a long way, but there is still much to learn.  At times, she still doesn't want to believe that leg can mean sideways and not just forward.  She doesn't always believe me that when I open my inside rein, I really mean for her to bend forward and down rather than throw her head up.  She's starting to understand how the outside rein controls her shoulder. such a cookie monster All of this is good and she is progressing as one would expect.  However, being an adult amateur who rides alone, I have developed habits tha...

Breakthroughs in Bending (and a Solo Trail Ride)

So, none of this is exactly groundbreaking or exciting information, but I think it shows just exactly where Ellie is right now in her training.  She continues to be a good egg and tries so hard to be a solid citizen, which is great.  She has her fleeting baby moments, but it is clear that she is starting to trust me and herself more and more.  We had some breakthroughs in our lesson this past weekend and she had her first solo "real" trail ride. After such a stellar show, she had Monday off last week.  Generally, I give her Mondays off anyway.  On Tuesday, I came out with what I now see as ridiculous expectations of her, and she was being really looky in her first ride this year in the ring.  I mean, we just won two Intro classes so clearly we are now Olympians haha.  I nitpicked at her, she pretended she didn't know how to bend, and mostly we just aggravated each other.  I didn't even try the canter and focused on leg yielding and turn on ...

More Lesson Recap - This time with VIDEO!

Ellie and I had a great lesson this past Saturday and while I know this is incredibly boring blog content, writing this stuff down for ME is really the reason I started this blog in the first place back in 2008.  So feel free to skip haha.  ;-) We started by doing a lot of walk warmup, which really seems to help her right now.  She starts every ride, at a lesson or at home, by hurrying along in this really crap walk (think running down a hill with a wheelbarrow full of rocks haha) and looking around halfheartedly for things to potentially spook at.  It is annoying but it is just where she is right now in her training and in her baby mind, so I just focus on regulating her walk and making her do schooling figures all over the place.  It helps settle her down to "get to work" because she is just not going to start out on a long rein and mosey around for a few minutes just yet.  Thankfully, being thoughtful and methodical with her walk warmup means that wit...

So many lessons!

OK, only three so far, but I am loving them! Despite my Sunday lesson having to be cancelled due to icy roads, I was able to reschedule for Wednesday since we are on school vacation!  Ellie was MUCH better this time about arriving at a new farm and after only a few moments of looking around with wide eyes and a small bit of walking around the barnyard as I chatted with the barn owner, I was able to tie her right up and get her brushed and tacked up.   I got to the indoor about 15 minutes before my lesson was to start and she was so calm on the lunge line that I got on within ten minutes.  Just as I got on, another rider came into the ring, who was only planning to ride for about ten minutes.  Normally I would expect Ellie to not care, as she is generally calm about horses in the ring with her, but for some reason she was obsessed with this horse.  Like every time the other horse got close to her, she started to jig and swing her haunches around, almost ...