Amazing way to end the year!

The weather couldn't have been better. It was warm, the air was calm and I had a license from the hubby for a horse day. I wanted to finish my Online taping and get it to the ISC immediately as the assessment format changes with the new year. We had an online tape made from the other day, but I really thought our sideways could be a little better. And Steve was willing to play cameraman.

First, I agreed to help my boarder show her horse. I've been playing with Nina a little and giving her groundwork manners, teaching her the 7 games and just generally playing with her. The owner decided to sell her recently so I was going to show the prospective buyer what Nina and I have developed. She's an amazing Trakener/Hanoverian with a ton of confidence built in. If I could afford her, she'd be mine. She's about 2 1/2 now and full of energy and play drive. I started showing some things online and then went to the play area and her over the bridges and into the tire. Then, we went for Liberty in the round pen - something we've never done. She was happy to play and show her athleticism! I was quite impressed with her physical ability. She went straight up in the air several times, spun with amazing ability, trotted in to me and stopped with ease before overstepping her bounds. It was all quite cool and I think Loma started to reconsider selling that mare. I hope she does and I hope she'll let me help her if she keeps her. Not sure how I could help, but I'd certainly be willing to try.

Then, I went back out and got Mrs. Z. Time to film. We went through the whole thing - Online tasks 1-9. I feel pretty good about it. She wanted to gallop instead of canter on the obstacle course task, which was interesting. Not sure if she just felt good or if she was emotional. I'm watching the video to read her and see what I think. Otherwise, it was a good representation of where we are at this point.

Then, I took Cowboy out, did a little ground work and then took him into the arena for some passenger lesson. He was great. He cantered on the 12' line in my arena - surprisingly. He stood nicely for mounting, he practiced lateral flexion with me and showed nice improvement and then we did passenger riding at the walk and trot. We did more walk than trot as I'm trying to bring him along slowly and keep his confidence protected. I'm also trying to allow myself time to build up trust with him. I really like Cowboy. My dogs like to hang around while I ride and he is showing extreme cowiness by keeping them out of the arena! I've never ridden a horse that interested in pushing animals around. We'll have to develop cow-working together in the future. He's so cool.

I had 12 more hours of horse time in me, but alas, the day was closing down and I really needed to get ready for the New Years Eve festivities. I love my life.

Lesson with Kime

Had another great lesson with Kime. We started out with my saddle and did a saddle fitting. She changed my shim setup and added a 3rd set to the pad. My saddle was then a little higher in the front and Z had more room for her shoulders. We also talked about riding without the wool pad underneath the Theraflex. I use the wool pad because of the rubbing the Therflex was doing on her sides. I'm going to use the wool pad only intermittently for a while so that I can watch for even sweat patterns. After the lesson, we checked out her back closely for signs of tightness in my body while riding. We found that there were some ruffled hairs directly under my seat, meaning my middle back is tight while riding. I'm not surprised.

We focused on freestyle riding. We used the figure 8 pattern and I played with transitioning up and down without reins. Our stop is getting much better and I'm learning how to be truly consistent with Z. We talked a lot about where I look while riding and where I want to look for turning. For now, I'm over-exaggerating where my eyes look because my head needs to be higher and I tend to look down. I've known that I needed to fix that, but it's the first time I've focused on that with an instructor.

Later, I practiced riding with 1 carrot stick only and transitioning through halt, walk and trot on the figure 8 pattern. Our transitions are so much nicer and Z really moves out with a tremendously better attitude. I'm simply bringing my life up to ask her to up transition and bringing my life down to transition down. I learned that pointing my toes up high helps me to bring my life down.

For the next 2 weeks, I'll practice the bridleless riding, turning with my body and good focus, transitioning up and down and transitioning while turning (wow, that's hard!!).

We talked about Cowboy and some things to work on with him to help him improve. She highly recommended passenger riding regularly. That's where we'll go next.

L3 Online - finally ready to submit!

Had a great day! Took Kendall for a short ride, her on Rain and me on Z. Z was, once again, a nut. She was worried and jiggy and kind of like we've just taken a big step back with trail confidence. We only went a couple miles, but I hopped off and did some ground work at a very fast pace. She was better and I got back on and rode her home. We practiced stopping with no reins the rest of the way home and just generally getting her listening. Backing up, sidepassing, half-passing, haunches in, everything to get her paying attention and partnering up with me. Actually, I think I got some pretty things out of her. I was also not at all worried. She bucked a little at one point and I was surprised - but handled her with bending and lateral work.

Before the trail ride, I played a little with Cowboy. I tacked him up and rode him a bit. We played with the teeter-totter and he did great - no worries or concerns. I asked him to jump a few things and we played a little with sideways. I had him wear a bit the whole time and once I mounted, I focused on looking for quietness in his mouth. I waited for him to feel calm and confident and then I hopped off! It's not going to take much to bring him around and I have to say, today I felt like I'd rather develop him than Gemini - because I think he's more predictable to ride. Maybe Gem and I would just need a little time to develop the bucks away, but Cowboy doesn't seem to have a buck - which is nice. One less thing to deal with. I wanted to play with him longer, but Kendall was ready to ride and I wanted to have enough time to get the Online taping done. I'm excited about the possibilities with Cowboy.

Taping was a pretty good success. Z did everything I asked. She was a sweaty mess when we were done. She went into the trailer with gusto! She cantered almost non-stop on the 45. She jumped the 3' jump and she went sideways nicely. I hope they pass this submission. If not, it's ok - means we weren't quite ready. However, we did things the best we know how at this point. I'm pleased with both of us.