Winter Music

  Today was a really good day!!! The kind of day where you literally have to stop and gush your praises to God! I'm so grateful and so blessed!   I got up and rode Dan this morning and then Lyric and I headed to Aiken. Mike is out of town so I hauled her up there and schooled XC and then left her there with Jacel and the crew. I came back home to take care of the critters here and then I'll drive back up there at 5 am tomorrow morning and show. Unfortunately there's some serious thunderstorms so I hope Lyric is okay. But if I was there, I'd be worried about the ones at home, so... And quite frankly... nothing I could do about it either way. I'm glad and thankful though that Jacel offered to take care of her tonight because I think having her haul two hours, school, haul two home, then haul two back up to show and two back home is a bit much. Especially with this awful heat and humidity. So yay!   Anyways, we got to Aiken and found our stall. It's such a small sh...

Man.. it is soooo hot and humid this morning. SOOOO steamy!! Lyric and I were both sweating up a storm after our ride. But it was a good ride. I ended up riding her at home because of life... She's the only horse not missing shoes. SHOES... with an S at the end... Both Dan and Funny are missing two shoes each. And.. ha... Lyric was missing two last week. This weather has been miserable. But anyways... Patrick was coming "this afternoon" so I didn't want to be at Ashland when he was on his way. Plus we needed to do some dressage and with her showing this weekend, she didn't have to haul.    So we headed up to the arena and did our pillar work and thoracic sling work. And then i got on and we rode. It was a pretty easy ride... nothing too strenuous. And honestly... I probably could have done more or hacked out a little but... it was just so steamy and we got a good ride in so I left it at that. We practiced the basics... moving her body... lifting her back... not br...

 Adult amateur hour.... doh! feeling brave... warmed up soft and quiet at the trot... then went feral and "ran away with me" . let her canter and dealt with it. Some mild porpoising.  then went to work... worked on things around the water complex.. bending, turning, etc. had to ride her body not her face. I was getting sucked into hanging onto her mouth, which translated to gallop. but when I did alternating half halts it "broke up her neck" ie the tension, and allowed me to half halt and ride. I still felt like she was quick, but i need to put my leg on. She was game and jumped allt he things, even the big scary roll top uphill!!  Hard because she gets so locked in her body and it's kind of scary. and then she feels so bold and brave but then she isn't... so it's hard to not throw my shoulders at her and wait for the add. Which I don't like. But If I'm brave and close my leg, she'll jump more out of stride.  photos; chaos xc videos

 photos dressage and hack

Stupid weather.... Argh! Lessons got cancelled at Ashland today because the arena's were closed. But luckily Jacel was coming to ride Jean's horses and teach her interns, so... Jacel agreed to teach me. On all 3! Yipee!! I opted to do Funny first and then Jacel was going to ride/teach so I had time to untack Funny and get the next one tacked up. Whereas, after that, she would just be waiting on me so I would have to hurry it along. So I opted to ride Lyric next because I figured a) she can be a bit tricky to catch sometimes and b) that gave me more time to do her unmounted warm up! So... I caught her (she walked away a little bit but wasn't too bad). And realized she was missing a hind shoe. Darnit girl! Again! Oh well.. it was soft enough with all the rain. As we got closer to the barn I realized she was also missing a front shoe.. diagonally. DANG!!! Again!?! Sigh... So I turned her loose. But then I watched her trot and canter off and she looked good, so I thought.... yo...

 Big Cheese show at ashland.  did starter... wise choice. Fun course didn't plan ahead well... but am exhausted mentally .. and physically. then had gut issues so running a hair late but mostly just poor planning. tacked up and did our pillar work and a quick circle or two of in hand lunging before getting on. went to dressage warm up and she was feral. Throwing her shoulders out... running... cantering... finally just left warm up for the benefit of the others and was able to warm up in arena at top... still feral.. did figure 8's repeatedly and eventually got her slightly settled. went in and did the test. went remarkably well considering how feral she was, but I rode so delicately. just direction and gait really... no attempt at roundness, suppleness, etc... scored accordingly ...37. But did score an 8.5 on our free walk! Which was glorious. But we survived.  got off rather than trying to "fix" it. hung out... left at trailer and walked her around some. watched sta...