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 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 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 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 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!