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!

Equestrian Team Day 11

We haven't had lessons for two weeks. It depresses me. Our lesson coordinator is a little overwhelmed, but there is hope. You know why?

Because I'm the new lesson coordinator!!

Yup, I'm gonna be scheduling everything for the next year. I'm so excited for it, I really want to prove how good of I job I can do that way I can run for president of the team.

Today I rode another new horse (for me). His name is General. Apparently, he's for the more experienced type (yesssss). He was really fun. He was such an easy ride, such light contact was necessary. He did want to break into a canter after we cantered around the first time, but I managed it. When our instructor asked us our summer plans, I replied "I'll be training horses". She then remembered that I have Paso Finos and replied "Well you'll be going back with a better seat!"

Uhm. About that. I think it's a little funny sometimes when people comment on Paso Finos because they're so different than other breeds. You don't even have to concentrate on a good seat, you just have one. You don't have to check your diagonal because there is none! You can spend all your time devoted to making sure your heels are down and that the horse is behaving. It's basically a no-brainer ride---until you get to the brio, the spirit of the horse. If I ever am a riding instructor, I will make all of my students, at one point or another, ride a Paso Fino. Then they can tackle anything that comes their way!

In short, I had a great ride. She complimented my improved seat on the canter and I got my diagonals right 75% of the time! Improvement!! I'm stoked for the summer when I can get more lessons and hopefully show so I can start off at a higher level in IHSA in the fall.

Speaking of showing....we're not going to the Springfield show this weekend anymore. After Paco informed us that we would need to be taking our own hay, grain, and bedding, we remembered how horrible the show was last year, how no one showed up, and how Randy won pretty much everything. So we're going to spend these next two weeks (since we're not going to Spectrum either) to work with Nina on her head-shy business.

I'm looking forward to the weekend so badly. Until then, happy trails!