That's your Horrible Canter?

Clinic day!!

I got to the barn nice and early so I had plenty of time to clean tack and get Mollie ready.  I tidied up her mane, it didn't necessarily need to be pulled it was just a smidge longer than I like.  I trimmed her whiskers as well and was reminded I still need a new pair of clippers.  Mine are long dead and I've been getting by with one of these babies:

Got Mollie all tacked up and put her in her snaffle bridle as I had a feeling whatever I was working on today wouldn't require the double.  I find that first lessons with a new trainer are more of a "getting to know you" session as opposed to actually working on anything technical.  I also didn't feel like explaining why my low level horse goes in a double bridle to yet another person... just not worth it for an hour lesson.  Got on and let Molls walk around on a long rein while the lesson before me finished up, and it gave me some time to listen to L, and see what she was all about.

It was very much a "mainstream" dressage lesson but it's always good to ride with new people, I can almost always take something away from the lesson.  She had me warm Mollie up while she watched and she immediately commented, "Her trot is adorable!" I replied with, "You haven't seen us canter yet."

I'm not always "woe is me and my riding abilities", cantering is just notoriously Mollie's hardest gait.

L eventually had me pick up a canter and said, "That's your horrible canter?"  It did make me feel better about Mollie and our skills, and I was glad we didn't look like total noobs in front of the new lady.  L was super positive about our riding which was nice to hear, and overall I think it was a good lesson.  In an attempt to be organized and put things into compartments I'll leave you with a list.

Likes:

- L was very positive, and it was nice to feel like my horse and I were competent enough not to look like losers in front of someone new who had never seen either of us work before

- L had me ride off the back of my thighs, as opposed to holding with the front, which gave Mollie a little more "breathing room" to lift through her shoulders and get lighter up front

- I did feel that we made progress by the end of the lesson

- I was able to focus on my position and get some nice tips on my alignment without my horse being a total tool

- For the first time in quite some time I felt like (and was told that) I could take my horse to a dressage show and do halfway decently

- L asked me a lot of questions, which I like.  It puts the responsibility on me to really think about why we're doing something as opposed to just doing it because she said so.

Dislikes:

- L was definitely very positive, but when I take a lesson I want to be pushed, and I didn't quite feel like anything she had us do was overly difficult

- I feel like our skills were slightly under-represented.  Yes we got some productive work done but I like to think Mollie and I are capable of some technical dressage exercises and we really just worked on a circle.

I don't have any photos or video from the lesson, so instead I'll leave you with a video of my horse putting herself away because it's cah-ute.

Now if I could get her to close the door behind herself we'd be all set ;)

Short and Sweet

Mollie and I signed up for an impromptu clinic/lesson tomorrow so today's ride was all about short and sweet.  I got on her and she warmed up really well, and I did my best not to screw anything up.  All in all I probably only rode for about half an hour but she was a good girl so there was no need to drill anything.  Plus I have no idea what our ride will be like tomorrow so I just wanted to make sure she was loose, soft, and in a good state of mind for our lesson.

I've never ridden with the clinician, who I'll call L, but a bunch of the women at the barn ride with her  and since tomorrow is a holiday I have the day off and might as well.  I'll essentially ride with anyone once, and just love lessons in general so I'm pretty excited.  Fingers crossed Mollie behaves herself!!

Fat blurry cow horse

sooooo sleepy

Bribery

I bribed my sister with lunch in return for some videos of Mollie today.  Molls was alright, not truly through and light but she tried.  It was damp and raw today despite being about 30 degrees so she was stiff and heavy to start.  All in all I can't complain, just not our best.  I'll let the video do the rest of the talking.  There's some counter bend at the trot (helps get her haunches in line), brief cantering, and her being pissy down the long side and blowing through me during our half pass with her huge a$$ shoulders.  And because my reins were 8 miles too long.  Wah.

Money in da Bank

Stealing everyone's ideas the last few days but these blog hops are more fun than me going on and on about my uneventful ride last night.

If I had $100,000 free and clear, taxes all paid, just to spend on pony things I would:

1. Set aside some for Mollie's boarding/bills/future emergencies                    $30,000
Totally lame and un-exciting but there are just so many expenses that come with horses I would hate to even figure out how quickly this money would be burnt through.  It would be nice to have a little stash set aside though to use for a while.

2. Invest in a foal/youngster to start myself and train just the way I want.      $20,000
Requirements:
- Filly (girls only club)
- German Riding Pony (or some other similar pony suited for dressage)

you shall do

3. A Macel Samba saddle for the horses and myself.                                       $4,000

A friend of mine rides in one, and I wants.  That is all.

4. Lessons, Clinics, and Showing                                                                     $20,000

Again, I shudder to think about how quickly I could blow through twenty grand on lessons and further education but I seriously love lessons.  I have so much to learn and want to learn it all!!  Being an adult I seriously miss the weekly lessons I had as a kid which were financed by financially stable adults.  Now that the responsibility to pay for lessons falls on me they're few and far between.  

5. Shopping spree for the Horse                                                                       $13,000

Items include but are not limited to:

- All new blankies (because right now hers are old... god forbid)

- A fancy pants double bridle instead of the one I currently use that I put together from two snaffle bridles.

- All the BoT products her highness desires/needs... but mostly desires.

6. Shopping spree for Myself                                                                            $13,000

Items include but are not limited to:

- All the full seat britches I can find/that fit me

- Konig dress boots

- Samshield helmet

And that is how I spend allllllll da monies.

Barn Tour

So I'm a little late to the barn tour bandwagon but it took me a little while to get pictures of everything.  And naturally I'm still missing some.  Some of these were taken on different days so I apologize for all the changes in light.

Outside

Looking from the fields to the back of the barn.
The white fence visible to the left of the barn is our outdoor.

Mollie in the aisle cross ties, looking out to the fields.

Molls in her field, doing what she does best.

Each horse has a run out attached to their stall for bad weather days.

Indoor

The only decent picture I have of the indoor... it is home to the most
luscious footing I have ever seen.  I'd roll around in it.

Tack Room

Barn

One of two cross-tie "stalls"

Mollie's stall

Grain room is open to the aisles on each side

This is by far the nicest barn I have ever kept my horse at... she seriously doesn't know how great she has it.  The barn is new, and the first boarders moved in December 2012.  Mollie has been here since October 2013.  The woman who built this barn did it with every detail a horse person would love in mind.

Not pictured are some cool features such as:
- Heated viewing room looking into the indoor
- Outdoor wash stall
- Blanket bars across from the cross ties to keep blankets off stall doors

One of my favorite "features" of this barn is the speaker system in the indoor.  I can plug my iPhone in before I get on and put on whatever playlist I have ready to go and it plays right into the indoor.  For the record, Mollie likes country the best.

That about sums it up, I've loved looking at everyone else's barns and hope you liked Mollie's abode :)

Day 5: Your First Fall

My first fall was probably pretty tame, but I was obviously sure I was dying when it actually happened.  I believe I was 10 years old, and riding my first horse, Red.  He was a high-energy Arabian who I had no business owning, but that's another story and is exactly why I didn't own him for long.

I remember being in my lesson, one of the first I had on Red.  I was on the lunge line and as we went trotting by the rail a cat jumped down from the hayloft onto the rail of the arena (which was a frequent occurrence).  That sounds odd but if you knew the set up of that arena it makes more sense...  Anyways, the cat landed practically right in front of Red's face, he jumped right, and I tumbled right over his left shoulder.  No injuries at all, just scared the bejeezus out of my 10 year old self.

Needless to say there have been DOZENS of falls since then and although I don't have evidence of the first one, I do have evidence of one.  It's seriously a surprise I don't have more...

Scroll to around 0:50 to see my dismal riding ;)

And then you can enjoy this photo of me nearly falling off my horse.  Despite jumping 3ft. cross country courses like a badass, she periodically stopped at plain cross rails.  For funsies.

Preparation is Everything





Transformation Tuesday anyone?
(circa 2002 and 2013)

 

 

Sometimes I really screw myself over with a ride.  I'm not sure why I think allowing my horse to do whatever the heck she wants during a warm up will lead to a productive ride, but from time to time I do it anyways.  I'm also not sure why I thought riding her in just her snaffle again (instead of putting her double together) would be a good idea.  News flash, the horse is smart and won't be exceptional in her snaffle twice in a row.

 

After a warm up in which I held the buckle and Mollie trotted and cantered around on her own accord I had the heaviest horse EVER.  I recognize this is my own fault so then I was just annoyed with myself.  I did lots of very technical exercises trying to get Mollie light and soft and oh, did I mention it was dinner time?  Oh, and that Mollie's least favorite horse on the property also entered the ring?

 

Can you guess where I'm going here?

 

All in all it was definitely not our most productive ride.  I decided to just focus on a very technical, very correct shoulder-in and when I got a good one in each direction I called it a day.  Quickly groomed Molls, threw her (lightweight) blankie on, (what is with this warm weather?!), and let her eat her dinner.  She was obviously quite pleased, and I immediately put our double back together for next time.

 

I really wanted to get pictures of the barn/facility to do a "Where you Ride" post but it was too dark by the time I got there yesterday.  Hopefully next time!!