Equestrian Team Spring - Day 4

Because of an unforseen event which happened yesterday, I won't be able to go riding for at least two weeks, which is okay, because after all, I'm not really feeling it. So I went into my lesson today determined to make it a good one, should it be my last if I decide to just not continue after today because of the two-week break and then finals will be looming.

I rode Sunny again. I approached the whole situation very calmly, with kind of a checklist in mind. Don't fuss over Sunny. Make sure to not get bit while cinching. Keep my leg on her. Avoid having to drop my stirrups. Have good posture. Put on my gloves first and remember to buckle my helmet.

Get over jumps.

I can proudly say I accomplished all of those things. Picking up the canter was a little iffy today and Stacy had to give me a crop, but I was determined to do well enough on the flat in order to get over fences today. I got to go over my little single X and then my double X line. I didn't fall off. I kept my leg on her over the fence. We worked together. It was a good feeling. While the landings might not have been ideal, I went over the fences. That was all I wanted. To prove to myself that I won't be scared of it, that I CAN do it, and that if this is the last time I ever jump, at least I will have gone out proud of myself.

After my lesson, when I brought Sunny back to her stall, she turned around and looked at me when I closed the door and came up to the bars to put her nose out. With a pat on her nose, should I walk away after tonight and never  go back again, I feel proud of myself for giving both myself and Sunny the chance we both deserved -- to prove that we could do it.

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 3

Not gonna lie, I only went tonight because I thought I was going to be able to see my friend who lives close to the barn.
Also, I didn't want to jump, but had a valid excuse not to. I was lifting weights this morning and somewhere in there, I must've strained my neck, because about 30 minutes after I was done, my neck started hurting really badly. So I didn't jump because of that.

I rode Sunny again. Worked a lot more on keeping my leg on her and being effective with leg contact. I feel like I improved since last week, which made me happy. I really felt proud that I stayed in a half seat for an entire trot lap around the arena and was able to pick up a canter within two strides like you're supposed to rather than fighting for about eight strides. At the end of the lesson, Stacy made me do some posting without stirrups...which hurts extremely bad! But I didn't fall off, which was my main concern while posting, so I'm proud of myself for that too.

I really don't know if I want to continue...I don't really care either way right now, even though I was happy with the little progress I made tonight. I know in a couple of weeks I have projects to work on for school and while I normally would be devastatingly stressed over losing Wednesday to work on them because of riding, I'm actually considering just not going riding to stay home and do my projects.

I don't know. I just feel like I'm in a weird place right now.

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 2

This lesson was by far better than the last one.

Today I rode Sunny, who was infinitely better than Wonder last week. She was a little wiggly, but overall very nice. I got to work on my balance over poles and then got to go over some little jumps, which was really nice. It was a good confidence boost. I don't know why, but I'm so much more scared suddenly of jumping on these horses, which is stupid, because at home I make Harry jump over things he's dead scared of and have no fear, and make Brie jump over bigger jumps going really fast. I don't really know what's up with that, but the entire time tonight that I jumped I tried to tell myself, "It's fine, don't freak out, it's just like going over with Harry." I feel like I would do infinitely better with my own horse, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And I know this sounds stupid, but I think that if I can't get over this funk with jumping by the end of the school year, I might not join the team again next year. I feel like I'm happy with having tried out jumping and now know that I'm not missing anything by not doing it and would rather save the lesson money every week and put it towards board or shots or shoes or something for my own horses...because in reality, when I get my own horses again later in life when I have a real job and what not, I will undoubtedly go back to Paso Finos. I might buy my own jumper or dressage horse for fun, but I feel like as you get older, it gets harder to get into different show circles than what you were raised in if you're serious about showing (which I am). I'm not trying to make this sound like a crutch or anything, but the more time I spend with the team and their jumpers, the more I just want my Pasos. Maybe it's school horses, maybe it's the sport itself, but I'm not really all too thrilled with it anymore. And I'm perfectly okay with that.

Equestrian Team Spring - Day 1

After not taking lessons for over two months because of my possible stress fracture, today was the first day back with the team.

To say it was terrible would be an understatement.

I was stuck with this little pony, who seemed like she might be annoying based on her ground manners, but I figured I could handle her. I got on, walked around a little bit and then started to ask for a trot.

This demon would NOT move at all. Stacy had me switch crops multiple times during the lesson and even with that, Wonder wouldn't move. She would only swish her tail, flick her ears, and continue on. Kicks, crops, even kisses, she wasn't having any of it. I felt angry when Stacy yelled at me to keep my leg on her because I WAS keeping my leg on her. This horse just would NOT go anywhere!

I literally spent the entire hour trying to get this horse out of a walk. She would only trot if Stacy walked behind us or yelled at me from across the arena, and cantered for half of a lap because Stacy yelled and snapped a longe whip at her.

Basically, I paid $40 for a pony ride.

I felt like crying for the entire second half hour because no matter what I did, it wasn't working.

At the end of the lesson, when everyone came in by Stacy for her little "moral of the lesson" story, her moral today was to believe in yourself and then you'll succeed in getting your horse to do what you want. I can only believe in myself until it's proven otherwise, and it was, so I accepted that this lesson wasn't going anywhere.

Afterwards (in which I untacked and groomed in record time because I was so sick of looking at Wonder), I went to talk to Stacy, and, ultimate insult, she said that I should come back for private lessons instead of group ones for a while. This really knocked me down. Even the girl who doesn't know how to ride, let alone have her own horses to train, was getting her horse to move. I'm trying not to take it as an insult, because I know Stacy didn't mean it that way...she said that she wanted to spend more time trying to fix this problem because my posture is great but it's like my legs aren't effective. She wants to analyze my riding more closely and figure out what I can do to really improve. I guess I should feel honored that she's asking to just spend time teaching me and working on my riding to really be where it looks I should be, both based on my experience with my horses and with my posture. So I have to figure out when I can start private lessons again. I might give next week's group lesson a go and see if it's any better on another horse. If not, I'll do privates for a while. I actually prefer privates.

In other news, I'm pretty sure Stacy is going to come out and ride this month! I'm so excited =] I just know that once she sees me riding my own horses, she'll be able to come up with something to help me better translate that into jumping. I would even love to bring Brie out for a jumping lesson some time, if we have a private lesson, or even a group lesson. I would love it even more if it were a group lesson so I could show everyone what my horses can do, but realistically I'll probably have to have it be private because we'd have to trailer Brie out there.

It can only get better from here, right?

Equestrian Team Winter '12 Day 1

Yesterday was my first lesson out with the team for 2012!! I didn't really know what to expect, especially as I'm not driving the vans anymore and have a real lesson group, as opposed to last quarter where it was usually just me and another girl. I appreciated that, having more time on me, but I really love carpooling with more than one person. And anyways, Stacy has proved herself amazing once again by at least seeming like she was giving me the same amount of attention as usual. I was super flattered when she kept telling me how wonderful I was riding, but I'll get to that.

We show up and I see that I'm riding a mare, Cassie, this huge monstrous horse who I've never ridden before. Stacy said that she was a new horse and that they've been working with her for a while, but she's been out of work for a while as she's pretty old. We tack up and mount, and she seems pretty responsive. I think I may have left my stirrups one hole too long because it was hard for me to post...but I guess that's more of a muscle and balance problem that I need to work on.

Anyways, I was proud of myself because I was able to correctly identify when I was on the wrong diagonal all on my own and switch, and I started going back to feeling the leads and realizing then when I pick up to post, I get the wrong diagonal and have to switch. I need to find a new trick for that, because I was listening to everyone else's advice to sit 3 then post, but that clearly isn't working...maybe I just can't count.

Trotting around is great, but I felt myself leaning forward too much. I think it had to do with stretching for the stirrup rather than focusing on balance, which lead to me putting a ton of weight in my toes and falling more forward! But I was safe at the trot.

I'm the first to admit that Cassie got away from me in the canter and I was not pleased with myself about it. I firmly believed that my reins were short enough, and even when I was trying to get her to slow back into a trot, it wasn't seeming to work and I could hear Stacy getting somewhat panicked as I started to lean forward more and stand on my toes instead of leaning back and digging in my heels along with the reins to get Cassie to listen to me. But she stopped, and we continued on our merry way.

Going over the cavaletti poles? Sucked. I felt like I wasn't holding a two-point, but apparently it didn't look back because Stacy didn't say anything.

Then the jump. This tiny, tiny jump, maybe a foot tall. Stacy says she didn't think that she would jump it, probably just trot over it. We're approaching it and I'm more concerned with not falling off and holding position when BAM! Cassie goes flying over this thing like it was 3 feet and I'm lucky enough that I was so concerned with grip and position that I only slightly fell onto her neck as opposed to rolling off onto the ground. We do this one more time, on replay, and then Stacy says that Cassie is getting too excited, so to just to the cavaletti poles. There she keeps telling me to put my heels down, but I'm always finding myself balancing on my toes. Ugh. I need to work on that.

In the end, it was a good first lesson back. I finally sucked it up and told Stacy that as for jumping, I'd feel way more comfortable if I were on smaller horses or even ponies until I get better at it because they're more the size of my horses. And as for Stacy not coming out to ride over break, her voicemail broke, and I didn't call the office, but she's definitely interested to come out when it gets warmer =] I can't wait to show her the horses I train. It's a completely different world.

Last bit of news. My dear Tommy moved away with his owner =[ We worked well together and I'll miss him. I'll always remember him as the first horse I ever fell off of. Good memory, no?

Equestrian Team Fall - Day 6

I think this was my last lesson of the quarter. And guess what! I didn't canter or jump! Nope, I got stuck with riding without stirrups. I'm seriously wondering how I didn't break my pelvic bone after that, it was so painful. Clearly, I'm not very strong-legged.

I got paired with Ranger today, who is probably the size of a T-Rex. I kid you not, he's the most massively tall horse that I've ever ridden, but he's super sweet and SUPER SLOW. I could not get that sucker to trot quickly for more than one long wall. Hence, why Stacy put me on him. She said my legs are "like a jello mold. They look good, but are ineffective." Thanks. I like jello, anyways...

Even though I was annoyed that I couldn't get Ranger to keep a steady pace, I'm happy I got paired with him. I can handle almost any type of high-strung horse, but stick me on a half-asleep snoozetown like Ranger and who I picked for the show last weekend and I'm completely useless. I kind of hope I get paired with him more until the next show because all of the IHSA horses are like Ranger and I need to know how to keep them awake!

Equestrian Team Fall - NU @ Notre Dame

My first team show of the year! I had a lot of fun. I was debating whether or not I should drive down with the team or go home and drive down in the morning with my family and I decided to go with the team. I'm so happy I did, I feel like I bonded with people =]

On our drive down Friday night, we stopped to see one of our team mates who's in the hospital. This was the first time that I'd meet her. She's so sweet and so young (she's a freshman)! I really hope that she gets better soon.

Then we hit the road for Indiana. The drive seemed so short and as soon as we got to the hotel, I crashed. I didn't even hear another girl come in to share the bed upstairs, that's how tired I was.

There's something about waking up early for a horse show...you know? It's so hard to wake up early for school or work or anything else except a horse show. I could probably wake up at 3 AM for one if I had to! Waking up bright and early, polishing my boots and heading out to the arena, we watched the home team warm up the horses.

Now, I find out that my class is second to last. Wonderful. At least it gives me the opportunity to watch everyone else compete, which is one of the most fun parts. One of our riders, Amy, lost a stirrup on her jumping class and completed the course almost spot on! Of course, she didn't get first, but it was amazing to see someone be able to do that! I certainly would've fallen and probably broken my neck.

After a long day of photography, it was finally my class. In Intercollegiate showing, we just randomly pick a horse out of a hat really and have no time to warm him up and aren't allowed to ride him before we get into the show arena. It's supposed to make it a fair test of horsemanship or something like that. Anyways, I get a horse and he's supposed to be push button. Of course, I didn't know that meant half-asleep!

I start off the class switching from what I thought was the wrong diagonal to the actual wrong diagonal then have to switch back again. That really bugged me because I switched 3 times until I thought I was right, then found out I was wrong. Ugh! So points marked for that. Then going into the canter I could not get this guy to canter soon enough and his canter was really wonky so I couldn't tell if he had the right leads either. On the reverse, I thought I had the wrong lead, so I broke into a trot to pick it back up and apparently it looked really bad...

In the end, I got 5th...it's an understatement to say that I was disappointed. I really just wanted to win. I thought I had everything down pat before I got to the show and the one thing that REALLY bothers me is that I messed up my diagonals. I'm not even mad about the cantering. It's that I STILL don't have those darned diagonals down. So more work. The next show is in March, so I have a long way to go to perfect that and really feel them, since I'm just starting to be able to. Here's to working to ensure my first place next time!

Equestrian Team Fall - Day 5

It's so funny how one week can be the complete opposite from the next.

So remember last week when I was all moody and felt like crying in the middle of my lesson for no apparent reason? Well my hormones are back in check and this week was AMAZING.

First of all, I got to ride with my shmexy show boots a la my mom. I'm telling you, putting the $60 into reconstructing the soles was really worth it, because I didn't have to go through the pain of breaking them in. Thank God that younger-version-of-my-mom and I have the same calf width and shoe size!

So after shining them up from digging them out of the basement this past weekend, I was feeling mighty awesome. Once again, I'm riding Tommy (who looked like he fell into a mud pit for about a week). And I have exciting news.

I CAN FEEL MY DIAGONALS! I never felt them before! It's only taken a year to finally feel that I'm on the wrong one (when I'm paying attention) and switch. I just hope that I don't get too freaked out at the show to forget that and ride the wrong diagonal the entire class, but I'm sure that won't happen.

But wait, there's more.

I JUMPED PERFECTLY!

The first one I got left behind on because I was hesitant, thinking about last week. But then I told myself to get over it and I GOT OVER IT! LITERALLY! My heels were down, my legs on contact, my speed perfect, my position right on key. It was such an incredible feeling to just sail over my little oxer and not fall forward or backwards and stick the landing! I'm so happy =]

Stacy had nothing but good things to tell me. She's confident that I'll place in the show this weekend if I ride like I did today. Also, I'm banned from wearing anything else except my mom's boots from now on. Stacy said that I rode much better in them and I could feel it too. While they still kind of hurt because of one of the wrinkles digging in my ankle every once in a while, they were much better than my Steed paddocks that I've been wearing. Those are especially stiff on my ankle. So I'll just bring those back home to kick around the barn in when I feel like wearing jeans, which will pretty much be all winter until it snows and I wear my insulated Mountain Horse boots.

It's an understatement to say that today was a good day. Can't wait to compete this weekend!

Equestrian Team Fall - Day 4

(completely forgot to post this so it's gonna be in past tense)

Wednesday I went out to my lesson with more new people, as usual. In fact, Emily has been the only person who I've driven there twice!

So we get out there and tack up and what not. I'm riding Tommy again. I'm not feeling entirely in balance, which my mom later chops up to possibly having my stirrups be too short. So I'm going to lengthen them more and see how that works this week. But anyways, so my trot is good, but I don't practice two-pointing around before I start going into jumps. The pick up on the canter was great, I was really good with my commands on that.

Then I start going into the jumps. I'm not sure why, but I just get this feeling of huge dread in my chest. I was thinking, "Why am I ready to freaking cry, I couldn't wait to jump!" So I go over the first one and he rushed over it and in my attempt to slow him down and balance the two point, we pop over it. So I tell Stacy I'm going to take a walk around before I start again because at this point in my head I'm ready to burst into tears (I don't know why I was super emotional that day).

After our walk around, now I'm determined. Control the horse, chest up, ribs down, go WITH Tommy over the fence. It was okay, but my position wasn't as straight as I wanted it to be. I was too focused on keeping my heels down. Last time over, my position was awesome, but I stood on my toes. I balanced, but I know that's the wrong thing to do so even though I felt steady as a rock with an awesome torso, I still felt horrible at the end of the lesson because I stood on my toes instead of sinking into my heels.

Good thing I'm not jumping this weekend. I was so eager to start, but after crying to my mom about it afterwards and hearing the advice about the stirrups, I'm okay with waiting a while. I'd rather not jump, even maybe waiting to enter jumping classes until after I graduate and am off the team because I'd rather have a super solid foundation and not cut corners so that way when I get my own jumper I can actually win.

I just really need to win the flat class!!

Equestrian Team Fall - Day 2

It was just me and another new girl, Layla, tonight! I hope my lesson isn't always half empty. On one hand it's nice to get more attention, but then it's not as fun driving there and back!

So while Stacy figured out where Layla was in her riding abilities, she let me start jumping again this week. I feel like for the most part my flat work is solid. My leg strength in picking up a canter is getting better and resulting in a quicker transition, but the downward transition can still use some more work. Nothing I won't be able to fix in time for Notre Dame in 3 more weeks though! I can't believe competition is coming up this fast. Then we have a huge break until about March when it picks back up for I think 3 more shows.

Working on my jumping position tonight, I really need to strengthen my back and core. Every jump I felt like I was getting left behind, and then when I started to think about it, I started hunching over again. It wasn't until the last jump that I got my position perfectly, but I'm still glad I got it! Now I know what it's supposed to feel like and can aim for that and perfect it until I can point up into the jumping classes, which hopefully happens by the end of the school year. I'd be really bummed if I had to show all flat classes senior year. Then I would just have to buy my own jumper to be able to show and as a recent college grad I certainly wouldn't be able to afford that!

Equestrian Team Fall - Day 1

Tonight was my first lesson with the team since I got back to school. The team was at a show last weekend and I'm proud to say that they did super well! No blue ribbons, but we got some red ones and other nice placings =] There was never a class we didn't place in, so I take that as a victory!

I was the only driver tonight and there was only one other girl in my lesson, Emily. She's super nice and a senior, so I'm kind of bummed she won't be here riding next year! But she's a beginner, even though she played polo in England. I didn't know this, but apparently playing polo doesn't require much skill other than staying on, going fast, and neck reining other than trying to hit the ball. It was nice being the more experienced hunter/jumper in the lesson for once though =]

I rode Tommy again tonight and she rode Chris (it's so weird when horses are named after people...). Tommy was being a little bratty, so I had to use a crop. But Stacy told me I did a fantastic job tonight. My upwards transitions are great, but I need to work on the downward from canter to trot. Apparently I stick my legs out in front of my like I'm trying to skid to a stop while on the horse when I make that downward transition, so I need to fix this, obviously. No jumping today because Stacy was trying to figure out where Emily is in experience, but next week I will be jumping again. Hopefully we get more people in our lesson too!

I just am so thrilled that Stacy kept telling me at the end of the lesson how great I rode. It makes me feel super awesome, like I'm gonna kick butt at the show at Notre Dame next month. I can't wait until next week's lesson!

I'm bummed that I won't be out riding this week, and next weekend they're getting shoes put on, so I'll only get one day of riding. =[ I'm gonna miss my horsies this weekend.

Equestrian Team Summer - Day 7 (Final day!)

Friday

Today was my final lesson of the summer with Stacy. I thought I'd have the last one next week, but she's going to a regional dressage show with one of her other clients, so the next time I'll have a lesson it'll be with the team!

I think that maybe I needed to fall off. I was being pushed around and walked on like a doormat by these school horses, scared I'd do something wrong, and today's ride was spectacular simply because I had one goal in mind: DON'T FALL OFF AGAIN and did everything to prevent it.

First of all, I finally settled with the idea of correcting them. I feel scared correcting other people's horses because they're not mine, but when it comes between falling off and staying on, it doesn't matter to me anymore if I have to correct them, I'll do it! Also because I was scared of falling off again, my leg contact was phenomenal. To feel that contact and balance and be able to ride with one hand on the reins, one hand on my head, while in a two-point felt awesome.

I did so well today that we started going over jumps again. Having leg contact also made landing the jumps SO MUCH EASIER. I used to tend to forget to have contact over the jump and kind of just let the horse do his thing then try to recover afterwards, but not wanting to fall off has paid off in that aspect too. I did four jumps, and landed 2 of them soundly, with the first one me forgetting to sit the canter instead of stand which I immediately fixed a couple strides into it and the second one coming off on the wrong lead. The last two felt amazing, like I was flying without fear of going over the top.

I was also very strong in getting him into a canter and back into one after he broke into a trot a couple of times. (I was riding Tommy, btw). I feel very confident about moving up. If I don't move up a level this year, at least I feel like I'll place a lot in the shows and be able to move up the jumping for my senior year. By then I feel like I would know enough to jump in small shows if I got my own jumper (unlikely, but still). I just feel bitter about not having this kind of starting point last year with Nell...if I had had Stacy for an instructor last year, I might've been jumping for shows this year. Oh well, I can only move forward!

Equestrian Team Summer - Day 6

There's a first time for everything.

Today's lesson was going super well. We went outside because there was a Saddlebred show going on inside, and (one of) the outdoor arena(s) was superrrr nice. I loved being outside with Tommy. We're bonding and he's learning me like the back of his hoof (does that apply to horses??).

So we work lots on trotting -- mostly sitting trot, to two-point, to posting, repeat. This is just for my benefit. Learning where my body is supposed to be over jumps and everything, getting some sense of balance. I feel really great about it. My back is straight, my shoulders are back, I'm sitting tall and feeling awesome.

Then we go into canter transitions. Cool. Not the best, but I'm getting them. I want them to be BAM CANTER, so I'm working on that. Tommy starts pulling his head. Okay, try to fix it. Start feeling myself falling forward. More cantering, falling forward more.

Now we're cantering and acting like we're approaching a jump. I'm going into two-point (or trying to). Not working at all. I can feel my legs swinging backwards towards his butt and my top falling forward and Tommy's like "Oh we're going forward?! Cool, lemme pull my head down to help you." I'm not getting myself back enough to correct him, lose contact with my leg and he starts trotting. We're going around a turn and I know I'm not balanced and start to feel myself slipping over to the left side of the saddle. No longer posting, know I'm going off, and fall/jump out of the saddle as Tommy just decides to stop because he clearly has no idea what I'm doing anymore.

I somersault over his head and catch him looking at me on my way down kind of just like:

As I roll away, freaked out he's going to step on me. I guess I layed in shock for a while, not believing that I just fell off a horse for the first time in my entire life. I could only think of this one girl from an old stable who constantly fell off horses as I lie there, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

After Stacy grabs Tommy who is clearly confused as to why it's now nap time, she runs over to me and my mom who ran down the arena fence to see if I was okay. I roll over to sit on my knees and it occurs to me that my left shoulder and side of my neck really hurt like I cracked it really hard, which I prolly did on my way down. I wanna cry more because of humiliation than pain, so after I get over myself and Stacy informs me that I now must make cookies (as that's the barn rule -- you fall off, you make cookies for everyone), I stand up, check myself out, don't feel like anything's wrong, so I get back on for one final trot around the arena (post, sit, two-point, repeat).

And boy, did I feel like a loser until I realized that 1) at least it wasn't on my own horse, 2) it could've been a bigger horse, 3) it could've been muddy.

Now I'm more keen to practice not freaking out when I start losing control over a canter and not try to go into a fetal position on a horse (which is basically what I was doing as I was failing getting control) and correct these school horses the minute they start giving me crap! My mom pointed out to me in front of Stacy that I never let Harry, Brie, or Nina get away with ANYTHING, so why should I let these guys? Stacy agreed and said even if I don't think I know how to correct one of them to just do something to let them know that they're being rude.

Oye vey. I've just been so worried about doing the right thing by the horse and not screwing them up since they're not mine and totally let Tommy walk all over me until I was on the ground (thankfully he didn't actually step on me). I can't wait to get back out there next week and have experienced what I want to avoid at all costs and be adamant on not ending up on the ground ever again.

Equestrian Team Summer - Day 5

Today was SUCH an improvement. I felt so much better with my legs. But of course, since I got better with my legs, my top half fell apart!

I rode Tommy today again (yay!). I'm becoming quite attached. I'm glad she's letting me stick to one horse until I figure out what to do with the bottom, balance, and but the top half and bottom half together over fences.

I feel so great that I can finally see and correct my diagonals. I'm super happy that most of the time now I start posting on the correct one to start with!

One thing that really clicked for me this week was leg position. With the Pasos, you're usually really quiet with your leg because if you slightly kick them (unless you're in Brie's mule mode or Harry's backing up to rear mode), they'll be heading for the hills! Stacy really drilled it in my head today to open up my hips and keep my calves in contact with the sides of the horse all the time. I also learned a semi-obvious but neat little trick about head pulling and such that I can't wait to try on Harry -- instead of pulling back the reins to try to fight them to tuck their head back and stop pulling, give them a little squeeze and pinch your shoulder blades together so you're not really pulling, just kind of locking yourself in a firm upper body position for a minute while pushing them onwards with your leg.

Trotting was awesome. She had me really working on my two-point position today in a trot along the long walls of the arena which helped me balance over the fences WAY better.

But, since I managed to do something right with the bottom half, my upper half was lacking. I completely kept collapsing my ribcage over the fences instead of keeping a nice and helpful frame that I had before when I couldn't balance with my bottom half. So I have to think about that and remember it for next week!

Stacy also gave me some at home kind of exercises that would help me strengthen my two-point, which I think is fantastic and I'll be doing them alllll week.

I can't wait to get better. Since my first show with the team will be in November, I decided to ask her if she'll let me jump in it. She said if I keep improving like did today, she'll see if she can move me up to beginning jumping!! I can't wait!

Equestrian Team Summer Day 4

Oh man. I got in trouble today.

Yes sir, I had to ride without stirrups. But let's start from the top.

I get there and ride Tommy again this week. Fine by me! I feel much better in my trot and the canter is beautiful. I really feel like I'm getting the hang of this. I get him to trot over the poles only hesitating once. I feel like I got this.

Then she sets up the little X jump. I'm like "Yes! She thinks I can start jumping!!"

And it goes downhill from there.

There was just something not clicking with me and jumping. I still have a little bit of a hard time with the whole two-point idea, so I'm trying my best. I get over the two poles she lays out before the X jump, go over those and kind of freak, hoping the horse will go into overdrive and do it on his own.

Well he doesn't. More than once, we pop over the fence. I nail it down to not having balance in my two point because, guess what, I'm standing! I couldn't help it. Then I'd topple over, lose my balance, and hang on his neck so he couldn't go over the baby X.

After like 5 tries I never manage to fix this, it's not clicking that I need to SIT MY BUTT DOWN and finally Stacy's just like, "Okay, out on the rail. Drop your stirrups." And in my brain I'm like, "oh crap, wait how do I do this while trotting??" And try to walk and she yells, "STOP TRYING TO WALK, TROT AND DROP YOUR STIRRUPS!" So I fling them off (prolly shouldn't have) and immediately start falling from one side to the other side of the horse. I really feel like I'm gonna topple over and all I hear is her yelling, "POST! POST!" I try my hardest, I think I posted once. I hear her go, "Oh man. Okay, walk. Yeah, you'll be doing that every week now."

Great. I had to cling on for dear life with my little thighs for about 10 seconds and I couldn't feel them afterwards. How am I gonna do this for a good portion of the lesson for the next few weeks!??!

I'll really have to suck it up. All I have to keep thinking is that I'll be able to jump after this. =]

Equestrian Team Summer Day 3 + Farrier visit

I'll start off with my ride today.

Keeping in mind every critique I got last week, I had such a good lesson today! I remembered to make sure I wasn't sickling my ankles either because I did that last week and it hurt to walk up until yesterday because of muscle aches. I trotted a whole lot, which is great because that's what I've been having difficulty with and Stacy said that she thinks she found the perfect match for me to stick with for a while. His name is Tommy and he's an adorable little pony-Appaloosa-palomino looking thing. He's super sweet too and just my size! I have to admit it's more than an adjustment going from the little Pasos to those huge Thoroughbreds! So we had a good ride, worked a lot on trotting and keeping my legs looking as nice as my upper, keeping my heels DOWN dammit and trotted over some poles. Stacy says she won't put me over jumps until my legs quiet down but that if I keep improving like I have from last week to this week that I'll be over jumps in no time, so I can't wait for that =]


Yesterday the farrier came out and was already halfway done with Harry by the time we got there without any tranquilizer. We ended up drugging all of them, and gave Nina enough for a Clydesdale! She was good this time and didn't fight, but my brother and I had to stand next to her and pet her and make sure she didn't see the farrier because otherwise she might've woken up from being tranq'd. We managed to get all their ears clipped, but Nina was awake enough to fight us with that one and break the clip (again) on her leather halter. That's going back to the shoemaker this weekend!

I can't wait to head out tomorrow, it's our last practice before the State Fair and I hope they work well with their new pedicures!

Equestrian Team Summer Day 2

*I can still say my legs are sore and bruised today, Sunday.

Friday

So I haven't had a lesson in about a month. This was basically like a first lesson all over again.

I got on this massive horse (but they really all look massive compared to the Pasos) named Alex and went in the super huge arena. Stacy once again reminded me to think of my legs since my hands and core seem to be down pat and it's my legs that are all floppy once I start trotting.

At least I got my diagonals right! I like horses with long strides at a trot, it's easier to see diagonals at.

And again, to all of you people who ride regular gaited horses, you deserve so much credit. It hurts to lift my leg to move it forward to walk after all that posting.

I'm also not used to having to have to much contact on the reins and keeping them short with a horse with such a long neck is a little unbalancing, so I kept falling forward trying to reach for the reins, then losing balance, then losing reins, then repeat the cycle again. I felt beautiful taking a canter and Stacy said I looked awesome until I started forgetting about keeping contact and Alex started to go faster. My downward transition to a trot was atrocious and it took an entire lap around the arena before I composed myself.

In short, I felt horrible.

But then she explained it like this: I need to be like a boxer and keep my weight down to be able to take anything up top, which I then converted to a dancer's analogy: you can't do a triple pirouette if you have a high center of gravity, it's just not possible. You need to stay low to maintain that balance. And then it clicked! But then the lesson was over. So I have that for next time.

She also told me that what I'm doing with the Pasos, with the whole collection and the double reins, they don't do with an English horse until they're like a level 5 dressage horse (is that really true???), so it's kind of like I'm going backwards with focusing this much on my legs.

That, and I never trot. I won't let the trot be my downfall! I already know that I'm most likely going to miss the team's first competition because it's the same weekend I'll be at Nationals (if we go), so I have a little more time. Hopefully my balance will improve in the next couple of weeks and I can start the little jumps again and Stacy might override the paperwork to put me into a jumping class instead of just staying on the flat, because when I'm walking or at a canter, I can pretty much handle it, it's just this darn trot that's throwing me off.

Equestrian Team Summer Day 1

That's right, I'm back on the team. I wasn't going to post this, but I felt like I should since I posted a lot of other past things already today. This wasn't written up before, so I'll just write it past tense.

I had my first lesson at the new barn today. I'm sooooo happy the team switched to this barn, it was the one that I was pushing for before I left. It's absolutely to die for. Without giving away the name of the barn, here are a few snapshots from their site.

This isn't even the entire property.

The big indoor arena

Another shot of the big indoor

One of the outdoor arenas set up for a hunter jumper show

It just gorgeous inside. I wish they had some pictures of the stall area. But anyways, enough about how gorgeous the barn is. The new trainer, Stacy, is great, she's so much better than Nell. She actually teaches and talked me through the entire lesson. I have to give all of you who have to trot on a regular basis some real credit, because after not having to do that for close to a year, my legs were on fire afterwards!

Stacy said that I have "an exquisite upper body posture, but my legs are everywhere". Ha, yeah, I have to get used to trotting again. Also, not so big news, I have to work on looking for the diagonals once more. I hate those! Almost every time I think I'm right, I'm wrong! She told me that if I work hard enough over the summer and have a great enough improvement, she'll override my current non-jumping status so that I'll be able to jump in competitions come the fall! I will definitely work my butt off for that one! 

Day 151

Well, we haven't heard back from the vet yet on those X Rays, so hopefully no news is good news.

Today we found out that Brie is just a magnet for bad things lately! She had a small gash on her hock, looking fresh, and low and behold one of her boards in the stall was split and she must've rubbed on it and cut herself on the part that was pointing out. We told Paco and he'll have it fixed. We cleaned the wound with some warm water on a rag, then put some iodine on it and finally put this blue paste for cuts my mom found in some vet magazine. It works fantastically! I'll have to get the name of it for you all.

Harry...well, he wasn't exactly bad today, but he wasn't good either. He was having an off day in the most literal sense of the word. He couldn't find his rhythm in his gait, no matter what we tried. Circles, different hand positions, different seats, but nope, he just never really settled into a nice clean gait. Always pacing. I hope that this was just a one day thing, because tomorrow is our last practice before we go to the Michigan show next weekend, and I want to keep up placing highly with him!

I would like to be somewhat productive this summer, so I'm signing up for this Parelli Connect thing online. I'm not sure if I told you all, but last summer I could've had an internship with Parelli in Colorado! I kind of wish I would've taken it, even if it was unpaid. But then again, if I had, I wouldn't have made it so far with Harry! Remember the wild beast he used to be? I'm so glad he's turned out to be so sweet. I'd rather have him be a sweet, not so great show horse, than an uncontrollable blue-ribbon winner! And I like to think I did a good job of taming him, thank you very much.

Oh, so remember when I was on the Equestrian Team? I quit back in October basically because of the facilities not being up to my own personal standards. I just found out that they've decided to move locations to a WAY better stable (one that I suggested way back when) and I'm joining again when school starts. I'm so excited! I missed jumping, and now that I know for sure I have to stop with Brie, it'll be nice to get it somewhere. I plan on starting lessons by the end of the month again, if not sooner!

Day 101

Just to think, I gave up a month of this for something that wouldn't even last, but I'll get to that.

This sure was an interesting return.
I'll start with the weird stuff first. So Ray rode Harry today...yeah, that's what I said. Crazy, isn't it? My mom was having a bit of trouble with Harry lunging, since she wanted to start him out today, and Ray offered to help lunge him, so she let him. After lunging Harry for a long time and after Harry was sufficiently worked up, Ray asked if he could ride, so my mom agreed. Good news is, as far as I can tell, he didn't screw Harry up--he was still fino-ing across the board. The entire thing was just really strange though. I want to start Harry tomorrow.

I rode Brie for a really long time today! We walked and corto'd and largo'd and went outside in the trail and worked on cantering...she even jumped! Her cantering is getting really good: I'm getting to the point where I don't even have to squeeze, just shift my legs and she picks up the right lead. It's a little harder to the left, but we'll get there. As soon as she has the basic signals down pat, I want to work on flying lead changes.

We jumped a tiny X set up out of wood and traffic cones. She over shot it a couple of times, and my position needs work, but I'm so excited! I'm going to ask my Grandpa to make a set of jumps for me for christmas. I need to learn hunt seat, since all I learned on the team was equitation.

Speaking of the team: I quit. Yeah. I'm not too bummed about it. I'll miss the girls in my lesson the most, but it just became this big political power trip for the exec board, plus I wasn't too pleased with where we were at. No skin off my back, now I have $40 extra to put towards a car every week =] so I can go see my own horses.
I'm really excited to keep jumping Brie though. My mom was an amazing hunter jumper in her day, so she'll give me lessons on position and everything.

I don't know when I'll find time to ride Nina though! My dads shift is changing at work so now we'll have to leave really early on Saturdays. =\ this also means that if I want to stay on a Friday at school, I definitely won't be going out to the barn on Saturdays. I'll have to choose wisely.

Two weeks til the Iowa game, three weeks til the Wrigley game, and four weeks until normalcy.