Last weeks Riding

To be honest I don't remember my exact rides in detail from last week. I had a lesson on Majak on Tuesday that went quite well and rode Donny Wednesday through Friday.  A More detailed post will follow this weekend about this weeks rides!

Riding The Week of March 18th - 23rd

Riding this week was a little slow to start due to spring shots.
     Wednesday: I rode Donny after class. We stuck to a stretchy ride expecting that he would be a little stiff and sore from shots but surprisingly he seemed his normal self. I still kept it to a light ride finishing by running through first one in preparation for U.N.H.
     Thursday: I had a great ride on Donny Thursday night before night check. He wasn't spooky and we were able to work with an excellent energy.  I focused on some of the components from third three as that is what we will start out showing this year, in particular keeping correct bend and angle in our half pass and working on my keeping my changes on centerline straight and making sure my timing of cueing is correct.
     Saturday: I had a lesson with Bryn on Donny we ran through third three and focused on areas of weakness in preparation for show season.

Riding Log For the Second Week of Break

This week was a fairly quite week. Donny got his hocks injected on monday so he had 3 days off and was in easy work for the rest of the week.
     - Tuesday: I had a lesson on Fiona that was very educational. Fiona and I always clash to a certain extent, not that I don't like her, just that she is always a difficult ride for me. I am definitely a rider who prefers a forward thinking, maybe even a hot horse. The natural instinct on a more behind the leg horse is to apply more leg. In Fiona's case this is not effective however, Bryn worked with me to keep my legs what seemed to be ridiculously far off and to focus more on my correct positioning adding in quick and clear squeezes when I wanted more energy instead of constantly focusing on the issue. By the end of the lesson miracle of all miracles Fiona was forward. Being able to change my thinking and adapt to a horse who is opposite of what I am accustom to is certainly a difficult but very important skill especially in IDA.     
     - Saturday: Donny wasn't quite up to a lesson do I went later in the afternoon for a easier ride. Donny having not been in serious work for a while was incredibly hyper and convinced the light under the door at the far end of the arena was a horse killer. We did lots of walking and trotting and stretchy work. Even though Donny was a bit skittish he felt great doing it an I am very excited to see how he will progress after his injections once he gets back into regular work and doesn't have quite so much extra energy.   

Riding March 4th - March 10th

Sorry this is a little late everyone.  

     - Monday: (Bryn rides Donny) 

     - Tuesday: I came out to the barn mid afternoon and had a great ride on Donny it was nice to not have to rush back to class, being on break has made my riding schedule much more relaxed. 

     - Wednesday: Wednesday began a long night check stretch.  I rode before doing night check for Karin. It was a fairly average ride. I worked on lots of transition work especially between trot and canter. Donny is always a bit more high strung later at night so I worked on half halts through my seat and transitions between shoulder in to haunches in and back. 

     - Thursday: I went home Wednesday night and opted to stay for dinner and change my thursday ride to a Sunday ride. 

     - Friday: (Bryn rides Donny)

     - Saturday: I had a very good lesson on Donny this Saturday. I had my first lesson in the double bridle and it went quite well. It was definitely a different ride then I was use to. Donny was much more forward and steady to the bridle. It required a bit of a different riding style but it was very cool to feel his FEI horse come out. I am excited to see more in the future. 

     - Sunday: I plan on riding Donny tonight.  

This week was a pretty good riding week for me. 

- Monday (Bryn rides Donny)

- Tuesday: On Tuesday I had a lesson with Bryn on Donny. It went quite well we continued to work on keeping equal weight in my left reign as well as maintaining control over my sometimes spastic right leg. We worked on some shoulder in while maintaining a relaxed position. 

- Wednesday: I planned on riding but my snow-phobic spanish professor moved my oral exam to 5:30 via Skype as she wanted to leave campus and get home before the snow started.

- Thursday: I rode Donny before doing night check. We had a fairly good ride although he was a little nervous. I worked on staying soft and calm and by the end he felt quite nice. 

- Friday: (Bryn rides Donny) 

- Saturday: I had a lesson with Bryn on Riley it went fairly well I practiced the first level tests and worked on riding more assertively.  After my lesson on Riley I had a wonderful ride on Donny. He was nice and forward but attentive to my seat half halts. We had some nice shoulder in to half-pass work and even a few nice changes. I am excited to try a riding in a double bridle for the first time with him in my next lesson. 

The Winter So Far!

     Ok here we go with my first blog post! Finally a moment not taken up by ridiculous amounts of reading and paper writing hurah!

     First a bit of context. Donny and I have spent the winter refining a number of simple skills in preparation for competing in some higher levels this summer. Although we, mostly I, still have a long way to go I think I am beginning to see a positive change in my riding and definitely in our teamwork. The fact that show season is only a month away is definitely still scary though! At the beginning of the winter Bryn tasked me with steadying my hands and becoming more flexible in my leg positioning, the first of which I hope I have taken care of fairly well, the second still requires some attention. We have been working a lot with improving transitions and refining my ability to half halt with my seat and legs rather then the reins. I have also put a lot of time into trying to lose my dependance on right rein now that I actually have a well balanced horse.  Assuring Donny that the ends of the arena are not home to horse eating dragons has also been a subject we have often dealt with in our rides so far this winter. Although I could likely ramble on for longer then anyone else want to read about the other details of our winter so far I will restrain and jump to describing my more current rides. 

Last weeks riding schedule was as follows 

     - Monday (Bryn rides Donny)

     - Tuesday ( Donny's day off) 

     - Wednesday: I came out to the barn around five for a ride on Donny. It was especially windy that night and despite my best efforts to drown the creepy howling with the radio, Donny was not fooled. We spent most of the ride working on how not to jump every time the the end door creaked in the wind. We did eventually accomplish some nice, more relaxed, trot work but by the end of the ride even I was convinced something might be waiting to eat me in the shadowy underpass below the bleachers. 

     - Thursday: I rode Donny before doing night check as I do every thursday. We had a much better, more focused ride then on Wednesday. I worked on making my left had take control of itself and forcing my right hand to back of a bit, adding the opposite leg instead when necessary. I threw in some transitions between shoulder in and straightening and also worked with smoothing out changes of bend by practicing serpentines. 

     - Friday (Bryn rides Donny)

    - Saturday: Saturdays I have my lessons with Bryn at noon. We mainly focused on transitioning from   shoulder in on the long wall to a half ten meter to a half pass we did this is both directions. We then worked on coming down centerline and transitioning between shoulder in to half pass and back again. We did this in both directions as well Right is clearly easier for me. We worked on keeping my right leg back and down. Toward the end of my lesson we worked a little bit of flying changes across the short diagonal. I still fight my instinct to freeze up when changes are involved but definitely feel like I'm getting better. 

     - Sunday: No night check tonight as usual so Donny's day of this coming week will be Sunday. 

This is a test!!