I love how colorful these cupcakes are! I might bake something this weekend, I really want to…
I had my first day at work today and I think that it went really well! Now I have an idea of what my day to day schedule will be like, and everyone at the office was so welcoming, helpful, and great! After work, I went to the barn and rode Suzie. I had to ride in the indoor since it was raining, and I didn’t want to push her in the deeper footing there, but she was so light, forward, and supple at all three gaits! I was really happy with her and schooled a few of the movements out of the third level tests, such as shoulder-in to a ten-meter half circle to half pass. She did that beautifully, and also did some very nice walk pirouette and turns on the forehand. I’m exhausted after this past week, so I’m going to bed super early and am going to go ride in the morning tomorrow!
I had an incredible ride on Suzie today! One of the things that I always have to keep in mind while riding Suzie is that she’s an incredibly clever horse. This is great in that she’s a fast learner, but she also gets bored very easily. Today I really focused on touching on lots of different exercises, but not hammering home any single one. I rode in the dressage ring again, and one of my personal focuses was to carefully plan each movement to meet every letter with perfect accuracy. Here’s a list of everything that Suzie accomplished today:
I was so proud of Suzie today. Also, as a bonus, I jumped her around a very inviting new course of little jumps set up in the second grass ring! I really want to get Suzie back in shape (and back into her regular smaller girth) so I’m trying to add a hack or cavalletti/jumping onto our regular rides as often as possible. I can’t even remember the last time she jumped, and these were barely 2’ high if that, but she got her cardio by cantering around all of them in a lovely, balanced rhythm. It was a great morning ride! Now I have to get ready to start my internship tomorrow. Eek!
My mom just sent me these pictures of Suzie and I on the first day that I met her, when I went to look at her and another gelding at her barn for sale! I can’t believe how young we both look. I was 13, and she was three. And, like most Haflingers, she was broke to drive, so part of our visit involved her owner taking us for a ride down the road! That’s my mom and I sitting in the back of the cart. :)
I went to the barn first thing this morning to ride before it got super hot, and I’m glad that I did. I basically had the barn to myself and had a good ride outside in the grass ring. The barn recently had a dressage show, so there are dressage rings set up in both outdoors. I really love it when I get to school in these since it helps me work really hard on test accuracy with Suzie. I warmed her up with the shoulder-in squares that I did in my lesson at home, and she did them really well. We did some half-pass at the trot and leg-yields at the canter. I also focused a lot on doing basic figures in the ring and trying to make sure that every 20- or 10-meter circle, diagonal, etc. were perfect from letter to letter. I also worked on trot-halt transitions up and down center line since I’ve discovered that Suzie can be wiggly about her halts!
After riding in the ring, I decided that she needed some extra work to lose the spring grass chub that she’s accumulated in the girth area. ;) Suzie’s a bit of a dumb blonde when it comes to hacking out alone, and sure enough she was a drama queen about every other tree on our way through the woods to the hay fields. Once we were out there, I put her very firmly together and trotted out for a while. We ended up doing some gallops back and forth at the bottom of the lower field, which Suzie always really enjoys. I think that the hill work is great for her right now, and hopefully I’ll be able to do more of it. She got a nice bath and a tail wash, as well as her fly mask, before heading back out to her new group of mare friends.
I really like these; I’m going to keep them in mind when I start my internship!
I’m back at school, moved into my room, and reunited with my pony! I’m living in the same building that I live in during the semester, so it’s familiar, but it’s a little bit lonely. I’m sure that I’ll get used to it, though, and I’m just about finished unpacking so it’s starting to feel like home away from home. Seeing Suzie today was great! I feel a bit sorry for her though because she’s so chubby that she’s completely outgrown her girth and is now using Gin’s! (Gin is a 17 hand Thoroughbred gelding that I used to own, and his girth hasn’t been touched since it was on him last fall. Uh oh Suzie!) She’s out with a group of mares now and seems to be doing okay, though she does have a long, thin cut on her right flank.
My ride was good considering that Suzie hasn’t been ridden in a couple weeks. She was stiff and reluctant to go forward, so I did lots of stretching down and easy lateral work to get her thinking about going back to work. I was just so happy to see her and be riding her again! It’s also nice to be back at the barn here, but I definitely miss my barn at home. I love getting to ride the dressage horses at home and getting regular lessons from my trainer. Sometimes I feel isolated up at school. However, the people and their horses here at school are amazing and I missed being around them all every day! I think that this barn has the best community. I have a couple days before I start my internship to settle in. I’m planning on going to the barn early tomorrow to beat the heat!
I’m going back to school today! I’m staying on campus since my internship is right in town. I’m so excited to see Suzie today; I’ve missed her SO much. It’ll be the second summer that I’ve spent at my college, since last summer I had a research fellowship to study fairy tales. I’m nervous about starting my internship, but at the same time I’m looking forward to it since I think that it’s going to be an incredible learning opportunity.
Yesterday, I went to the barn to try riding Gigi, my trainer’s three year old filly for sale, and I really like her; we’re very seriously thinking about buying her! It’s so exciting. I backed her with my trainer in January, and yesterday did some walk and trot work just to feel her. I’ll definitely post a picture of her! I also rode a lovely Thoroughbred gelding named Magnum. He’s for sale (so if anyone is looking for a very nice and inexpensive gelding, he might be the one!) and he’s really fun to ride. He was on the track for a while, and has been in training at my barn for about five months now.
Today I had an interesting lesson on one of my trainer’s horses, Paragon. He’s a really neat little gelding by Parabol, and he does in fact look somewhat like Heather Blitz’s Paragon since they’re both slender chestnuts! He’s very light, sensitive, and agile, which all should be good things, but he’s actually really challenging to ride. Whenever I’m on him, he doesn’t do anything bad, but he also doesn’t do what I’m asking him to do. I think that it’s due to the fact that he’s really only been ridden by my trainer and is sort of custom-trained to respond exactly to the very lightest of aids…but only her aids. He gets frustrated when I ride him because I honestly don’t think he understands what I’m asking him to do, and I just can’t seem to get through to him. Even though it wasn’t a great lesson, it was still a good learning experience.
The grey ladies at the barn: Zoe, Faith, and Stacy the tiny Welsh pony! And that might be DJ in the very back. :D
