Equestrian Team Day 15

Guess who I got paired with? Yeah, Jimmy, again.

He was actually better this time. I rarely had to actually kick him rather than just heeling him. It was nice. The ring was super crowded though --- it's good that I decided to stick with splitting up the 7pm group. It's such a tiny ring and it doesn't help that there are a bunch of jumps in the middle, especially when you're trying to pass someone on the rail.

So Jimmy yesterday was a success. It was the most successful Jimmy-ride I've had so far and I'm proud of it! He didn't want to canter to the right, but we'll get there. I was actually looking forward to riding Dutchess and was bummed when I didn't get her. Oh well. Maybe next week.

If there is a next week. I might quit soon. I'm thinking of possibly buying my own jumper (or maybe even a Warmblood...forsake jumping as a whole and try dressage for a while) and moving to this absolutely gorgeous barn for lessons with said new jumper/dressage horse. It's like 15 minutes away from where I am now. Gorgeous, I tell you, gorgeous. Like the Taj Mahal.

I'm super jealous of this one girl on the team --- she has her own car and gets to go ride her horses 5 days a week, plus do lessons with us! If only, if only...maybe I should quit lessons and just start saving money for a car again, give up the semi-annual sale fund and turn it back into the F150 fund.

Equestrian Summer

So I haven't been doing regular posts like I did during the school year about my lessons with the team, partially because I've been focusing more on training.

Oh and by the way, those dressage dreams are over until I can buy a Warmblood. Apparently, you will lose a Paso's gait if you teach them dressage. What I don't understand is why the woman wrote the book on "Classical Training for the Paso Fino" if she says right in the introduction that Pasos and other gaited breeds aren't very successful with dressage. Uhmmmm kay?

Let's see. A summary of my summer.
I rode Cameo a whole bunch. From her, I learned how to keep a horse from refusing a jump.

I rode General once. I wasn't too keen on riding him when I did because his hoof looked nasty, and I told Nell that, but he was an okay ride. Very bouncy trot. From him, I learned to not work at posting and that you just have to go with the rhythm of the horse. The horse will propel you and you don't need to work your inner thighs all too much to post. Also, I learned that posting should not appear to go up and down, but rather rock back and forth.

I rode a Saddlebred/Arab cross, Dutchess, twice. From her, I learned that it is absolutely necessary to time your jumps and lift yourself up while in the air, otherwise you could possibly fall off. I also learned from her that you NEED to keep your heels down. I didn't and lost my stirrup almost every time over a jump. Thankfully, I managed to stay on. "If I go down, you're going down with me."

Today, my last lesson of the summer, I rode Two Socks. I only rode him once before when I was learning diagonals because, conveniently, he has two socks on the left side of his body.
Oh boy. I need to get a stronger leg, that's what I learned from him! I thought I had it after my adventures with Jimmy, but apparently not. My mom said she never saw a horse come away from a jump trotting...well today she did, that's how slow he was going. I thought that his trot was very nice on the flat, but apparently his "breakneck speed was that of death". I have to see if I can use spurs in the IHSA shows, because personally I find crops too hard to deal with. And with today's performance, I'm pretty sure that my next lesson will land me on Jimmy again. Fantastic.

I've already started lesson coordination. I even made a neat little form to send out as an email that will automatically fill into a spreadsheet. I'm kind of an organization nut like that. And I already have my lesson during the fall quarter in mind and pretty much secured. I'll only get one practice in before the show, but it's not like I'm going to be jumping at these shows. The points for this system are ridiculously hard! They make it so hard to point up in a year, and I'm only doing three shows. Even if I take first in all my classes, I'm still pretty sure I won't have enough points to jump next year. Oh, the frustration. So all my goal is to beat my NIU rival.

I'm all set with my show clothes. I bought a lovely new coat, all black, with gold buttons and velvet collar. My mom's was too small. Can you believe it! My mom was even skinnier than I am when she was younger! I have to vacuum myself a bit into her white breeches, but they look good, especially with her show shirt. Thank goodness it's no-sleeved. I have a beautiful pin for my ratcatcher and I tried on her tall boots today which fit perfectly. All I have to do is bring them to the shoemaker's to repair the sole a little bit, possibly add some traction to the bottoms because I kept loosing my stirrup again today, even though my heels were down.

I won't be out to train tomorrow. I have to work that football game. Go Wildcats!