Since I haven't been getting comments here, I moved my blog back to Horse-corner.com/blog

No better time to post about the riding situation then right now, while I'm sitting at my desk with my heels streatched down against bar on the back of the desk, trying to break in my dress boots.

Tuesday I was home, so I got in a ride on Georgie. He was good, I'm getting a little more used to him, and now, he actually wants to go forward, unlike our first ride together. He was really good. Nothing really exciting happened tho. Deb told me to start using him to practice my dressage tests, so I'm going to start doing that.

Last night I had a DUET lesson. It was really fun. I got to play musical horses. The whole thing is a little unorganized, but you fnd out what horse you have, and then you have to try and find him. I was told to ride a horse named Tropper, and we were told he was the solid bay in the shedrow (there are about a million places to find horses on this farm, (the main, the schooling barn, the boys field, the shedrow, the puddle barn, the four stall, the five stall, the girls field, etc.) So I get my horse and tack up and go in the ring. Our instructor was running late because she had to help some of the other kids find their horses, things we're kind of a mess, because they had a pipe break in the main barn and had to shuffle some of the horses around. So we got a late start. The horse I was riding had the most up and down motion, it wasn't fluid at all, and it felt like his front and his back weren't even connected. But after I while I settled into him, I waqlked around the areana one way and then the other, and did the same for the trot. Then all of a sudden the trainer goes, "I think you have the wrong horse. This is Gaston. We have to get you a different horse, He's been good but he's a little green in the jumping, you won't like him. But keep troting him." Then she yells to every one in the ring, "Stay away from this horse, He doesn't like other horses around him, Stay away!" This is after I've already spent 20 minutes wweaving around people, riding next to people, etc. and he was fine. (dumb, I know.)

So I got another horse for the jumping. His name was Magnum. Another solid bay. Only he wasn't as skinny so I felt a little more comfy on him right away. But he was a monster! They were like "be care he tries to bite when you tighten the girth. So I figured like a normal horse he would just stand there while you were next tohim, and then reach back quickly to try and bite when he saw you going for the girth...NO! I'm just standing at his side, and he has his head turned to me, with his mouth already open, to bite me, so I pushed his head and neck away and got in his face a little, to try and be dominant and he left me along while i tightened his girth. I led him in the ring and got up on the mounting block and am standing next to him, to hop on, and he flings his head back to bite me, luckily he pretty much just wolloped me with his head, but he almost knocked me off the mounting block. So the trainer came over and pushed him around a little bit and held his head while I mounted, and that was it.  I got to trot him around twice, which he was fine at the trot, and canter him around three time, he didn't want to go forward so it was a little uneven and bounce, but still good. then we started jumping. When he saw the jumps his stride opened up into a nice canter, and he jumped well. We did a small cross rail twice at the trot, twice at the canter, and then we put together a small course. Down the long side over two box jumps, and up the diagnal vertical (two jumps). He we did really well, except on our first time around the course on  the first jump he was a little hesitant and kind of did a stop and hop, but it was alright, we smoothed it out for the rest of the trips around.

Thats about it, the more I'm around these problem horses the more I realize how wonderful and amazing Bonfire is. I haven't seen him in weeks though, so I definately am going to see him this weekend if I have time. Even if it's just to brush him and chill.

Tuesday I went home to get in some extra riding time. I went to Deb's and rode Georgie. He is so handsome. It was nice, because we had the whole ring to ourselves. He actually wanted to trot and canter. Unfortunately I was getting really tired by a half hour in, so we didn't get to work for very long. He has a gorgerous canter to the right, sooo nice! He did a little kick out the back when we started cantering the very first time I asked him to, but he wasn't being bad, he was just excited because things have been really icy at Deb's so the horses are able to run around in the fields, and they're spending a bit more time inside. He desperately wanted to go over this little crossrail Deb had set up, so I let him just walk over it once, and he was pretty happy. We did a lot of serpentines, which he had fun with. He seems like he is the kind of horse that enjoys a challenge, enjoys thinking, and enjoys working. He really is a good boy. Once everything clears up a bit I'll be able to ride Bonfire, right now everything at Gary's is all icy too, and the ground is rock hard, so no riding there. Deb has an indoor, and Gary doesn't, Indoors make everything so much easier. Thankfully the women who said she would exercise Bonfire for me, is going up and doing some walking and light trot work with Bonfire, and working on lots of lateral movements with him to get him into shape.

Thursday I had a DUET lesson, I rode a bay QH named Moon. The trainer said he is a lot like Skippy, who I rode last week, but Moon was a lot easier to get going... or maybe I was just better prepared. Anyway I had a way nicer ride, we actualy sustained a canter and trot and everything, for as long as I could hold out. The people in my lesson are SO EXTREMELY nice, and I had a lot of fun with them, but unfortunately me and one other girl are better riders then some of the others in our lesson. (although, we have a lot more experiance, I don't want to sound like they are bad riders because they are not at all, as a matter of fact  the one rider just moved up into walk trot canter, and he just started over fences, and they gave him green horse! The horse was dropping his shoulder and cutting the through the turns, and was like just taking off down the long side, and poping over the jumping, and the rider stayed right with him! Even when his saddle was too small, and they had to change it. ) Anyway, don't want to sound pompous, but the lesson was kind of boring, and really I don't remember the instructor saying anything to me, about correcting things, except the I gave him a kick when we where too close to the jump and she just reminded me to just squeeze and ride it out when your that close to the fence, because you ideally don't want to take your leg off, but it was no big deal. I'm just worried I'm going to get bored because I like to be challenged a little bit, and I didn't feel challenged at all. As a matter of fact we were troting and the trainer was like okay lets stand in our stirrups for a minute, I think she ment that she just wanted us to rise out of the saddle and then go into the two point. But I just ignored her, standing in your stirrups is a bad habbit to get into, and I'm not going to do it. And then I was really tired and she way like, alright lets practice our two point, and I was like screw that, I know what a two point is and how to do one, I'm tired. I know it's a bad attitude to have, but I was kind of POed, because I got placed into Walk, Trot, Canter, and told that I wasn't going to get to show Saturday, after I had been told that I was a) going to show saturday, and b) going to be in a jumping division. I put up a little bit of a protest about being put into Walk Trot Canter, but it didn't do any good, except the Couch said that I can always move up a level volunterally.

Anyway that's whats up, going to go ride at Deb's again today, and go visit B-fire.

It's been a rough 24 hours, a very good friend died suddenly and I've spent the last day engulfed in my own thoughts, concerns, and emotions. It takes me back to horrible time, and I know that bad things come in threes, and I was just waiting to see what the next three things would be. But the good friend who died was an incrediable spirit, who enjoyed every moment of life, and lived it to it's fullest. This caused many conflicting feelings, because I was becoming extremely withdrawn, which isn't anything like this wonderful women was, and it doesn't do her justice. But I've just made a discovery that has brighten my day, and put a smile on my face. And it's all because I had to walk back to my dorm from a fun class, in the cold pouring rain....


Life in like a long walk in a february rain without an umbrella. Your shoes become squeeky and uncomfortable, and by the time your done, you look like hell and your cold. But there is something incrediably sobering, and exciting about it, and guarentee you'll come in laughing, smiling to yourself, or amused in some way shape or form.

It's all about enjoying splashing in those big puddles and looking like the sun is shinning, even when your soaked from head to toe.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothin' seems to fit
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

So I just did me some talkin' to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
Sleepin' on the job
Those raindrops are fallin' on my head, they keep fallin'

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me won't defeat me
It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me

[trumpet]

It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turnin' red
Cryin's not for me
'Cause I'm never gonna stop the rain by complainin'
Because I'm free
Nothin's worryin' me

Sunday I had a lesson, not with the team, but with Deb. I had to ride at her barn, because Gary's farm is covered in a nice layer of ice, so Bonfire is getting off way to easily. Although I did go visit/feed him on Sunday, and he was very happy to see me, and he got his spring shots and his coggins test yesterday, so he's probably none too happy about that.

My lesson was pretty bad, I was about to say that it was okay... but it wasn't at all. It started at home when I went to put on the tall boots that I've been ridding in for years, and the soles started breaking off in chunks... which made me switch to a pair of dress boots that I got over the summer, and still haven't used because they are so serverly painful, because they need to be broken in. I wore those boots until a few minutes into my riding I couldn't take it anymore, and Deb stopped the lesson so I could get different boots out of the trunk. I looked stupid in dark black pants, and tall tan boot stockings with small paddock boots, but I wasn't in pain, so it was worth it.

I lessoned on a horse named George, He is a big (canadian?) warmblood, He's almost 17hh, which at first was scary because I thought he was going to be a really bad horse, but he wasn't. As a matter of fact the reason Deb had me ride him was because he is very sensitive to the hand and has no go. So I had to really kick him to get him going. She told me this is what riding the IHSA horses is going to be like, and I have to learn to make it look pretty.

Which I didn't. lol. I'm so out of shape that I was bouncing around all over the place and it didn't help the the dress boots were so hard to get on and off that just getting them on and off was exhausting. So I didn't look very pretty riding because I'm so out of shape, but I'll get back into shape, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Nothing extraordinary happened in the lesson. But I'm going home to ride George today so I can get in another ride before my lesson on Thursday, and the team show on Saturday.

I'm almost positive I'm placed in a level that lets me jump, Because one of the girls told me that I was going to be doing just the flat class, and they'll enter me in the jumping once I take a few more lessons with them, and get a little bit more used to the horses. Which is all fine with me. :-) [Honestly though, I've always placed better in jumping then flat.] But really I'm just there to have fun. Once I get in better shape I'll be fine, but until then I honestly don't expect to place.

Also, lucky for me, my Mom is breaking in those uncomfortable boots for me, because she is a smaller show size, so they're nor uncomfortable for her. And my old boots are being resoled by Thursday so I should have them to show on Saturday! Yey!

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For those of you that don’t know, A minor is an awesome cord!

Anyway, It was a very busy, and very strange week.

I did join the equestrian team, and had a lot of fun at my Sunday night meeting and my Monday team dinner. I was scheduled for a Tuesday lesson, which was almost canceled, because of the crazy weather here. But ultimately it wasn’t canceled, so I had my first equestrian team lesson. The whole team doesn’t lesson at once, it’s broken up into groups which I believe depend on your level. For my first lesson I was put in the highest group possible, which was no big deal, I didn’t even realize it until I got there. The highest level (Open), isn’t that big, they jump 2′6″ to 3′ which I have done, not a lot but done.

I get there and the two girls I’m which show me around and help me find my horse and show me how to get my tack and everything. [The barn where we train, is only 15 minutes from my house, and it’s a huge show barn! They have like 3 outdoor arenas, an indoor and huge open fields!] They literally have a wall that is all saddle racks with saddles on top of saddles on top of saddle, and you just take one. On another smaller wall they have a bridle for every horse, which the horse’s name on it with one of those little label maker labels taped one, and then theres a rack with a tons of girths, and a room that has more saddle pads then I could have ever imagined. You grab the best tack there is, and the one that will fit you the best and off you go, except for the bridal which of course you have to use the horse’s specific bridle. The barn on the inside is the stranges set up I’ve ever seen! The isle is just big enough to fit a horse, and a person on either side of them, that’s how small the isle is, you can’t lead one horse pass anouther, there just isn’t enough room. All of the doors were like people doors, not a side garage door/double door, and the ceiling is prbably only 8 feet high (house ceilings are 10 feet). I don’t know about the outside of the barn, as far as pastures and what not, because it was too cold to hang out outside, but I’ll let you know more about the layout when I get more familiar with it.

Anyway, the trainer, Jess(she was incrediably nice), gave me a horse named Skippy (hence the password), she said he was probably a little below my level, from what I told her about my experiance, I’d never met her before. Skippy is an adorable bay horse, he really is gorgeous, but he’s about 15.1 hh, soooo tiny!!!! I felt like my feet we’re dragging on the ground. As we we’re leaving the barn Tori, one of our Team Captains, asked me if I wanted a crop, and of course because I didn’t know the horse I said no…I pretty much don’t like to use the crops and stuff unless I have too. BIG MISTAKE! this horse would not move!!!! I’ve been working of r a long time training my horse to be light to my leg, and this horse reminded me so much of one of the lesson horses I used to ride when I was little, I was kicking the crap out of him, and he wouldn’t even keep the trot! I’m not in the best riding shape I’ve ever been in, and he had me working so hard I could barely breath. That pretty much set the tone for the hour lesson.When it came time to canter, he didn’t want to do that either. And when we jumped, he didn’t want to keep the canter, but we jumped everything extremely smoothly, and I though at the very least my jumping was a good as it’s ever been. Not once did I hit hard on his back while I was landing, or pop him in the mouth by accident! Jess wouldn’t let me jump the full 2′6″ or 3′, but I did jump like 2′.

The two girls in the lesson that are on the team, Tori and Kat, both are in open level, were very good, there were three other girls who were just Briairwood Farm Lessoners, they were alright, one girl feel off because she was leaning on her horse’s neck and he refused.

Anyway, Jess moved me to Thursday night lessons, which I have a few problems with:
1. There are already 5 people in that lesson spot, I’m the 6th, and we get to our lessons by car pooling, most cars seat 5 some seat 6, but then you have to cram 3 in the front…not fun.
2. Out of the five I found out that one is in Walk/Trot, and another is in Walk Trot Canter, and one of them is new….

I really really really really don’t want to be WTC I’ve been jumping for 7 years, how incrediably boring will WTC be! I’m not sure if I’m there for sure, but I have to talk to the coach, If I am I’m thinking about quiting, because it takes 35 points to move up a level which if I got a first place in every show…not gonna happen, no matter who you are… It would still take me all of this term and one show next term. Which I guess isnb’t really all that much, but in that time I could be working on my own horse…so we’ll see, I prolly won’t quit, but I might.

Plus I looked up the requirements for WTC and I barely make it, if I did WTC I would have to do the advance class…and that just doesn’t even make sense, especially since i love jumping and am decent at it. I have a feeling they’ll put me in WTC anyway for teams points. :-/

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