Show Prep

I had a great lesson today with Lisa. I ran through my dressage test and then we did a mini jump course. By doing the jump course we decided that I would trot the course tomorrow to make sure its a nice and relaxing show day for both Mason and I.

I "conned" Kelly into braiding Mason today, and he looks super super cute all braided up! Today has been the most relaxing off farm show prep day I have ever had! Now lets hope I have no problems showing tomorrow.

First Fall

I had my first fall today on Mason today. Martha and I went on a trail and on our way back Mason threw his head down and gave a huge ass buck! It thew me on his neck and I slid off and not long after he booked it up towards the run in sheds back down the new grass area, slid towards the hay bails and booked it towards the training rock cradle. At first I thought good, he has no where to go so he'll stop. Then I saw that look in his eye that looked like he was going to jump it! But he turned around and started to go up to the house and then some how made it down the driveway. If it wasn't for Dana and Boo in the ring I would have gone back to the barn to look for him. Turns out he BOOKED it down out towards the driveway. Dana was quick on her feet and called her dad and he booked it down from the garage in his golf cart, I jumped in and we headed towards the road. At first I thought he went to the bogs but nope... he took a left out of the driveway and from his hoof prints looks like he galloped all the way down Old Sandwich Rd. Thankfully there was a car that must have stopped him because he was just hanging around with the car.

He saw me and started to walk towards me with the 'sorry mom but I just needed to gallop, I didnt mean to make you mad' look on his face. Damn, I have never been so mad at him before! Once I got him I hand walked him back. Dana came out with Boo to see where we were and we all walked back together.

I hosed Mason off and saw he had a couple of scrapes, but nothing major thank goodness! When I had him on the cross ties and brushing him you could tell he was feeling really bad. I'm still pissed but need to look at the big picture and be thankful he wasn't hurt.

Clinic

Mason and I rode in our first clinic today with Rick Pearson. I really liked him and got a lot out of him but I'm not 100% sure if I really got $90 worth out of it. I learned to loosen up my shoulders, and have everything work separately. I also learned how to move my arms with Masons each stride. And how to teach him how to not lean against me and if he does lean have him lean against himself. I can do this two different ways, one way is by bridging my reins and the second is having my outside thumb lie against his withers and use my inside rein to lift him up.

It will be interesting to see how it works on my own.

Dressage lesson

I had a dressage lesson today to prepare for this upcoming weekend. I got to use a whip today to help me with up transitions. Lets just say Mason defiantly reacted to it.

Bareback

Yesterday it was super hot again, so I decided to go to the barn later when it cooled down a little. The camp kids were everywhere! So I didnt want to ride where they were, and who knows where they were riding. Abby and her mom were at the barn. I saw them coming back from a trail ride bareback and it gave me the idea to just go bareback, less tack to put on.

I rode in the indoor because the camp kids were everywhere. Mason was awesome! We walked, trotted, and cantered bareback. I was amazed that I could sit his trot for as long as I did. Our canter to trot transitions weren't very pretty, but oh well. I already knew that. But otherwise it was great, I will be going bareback on him a lot more now knowing he is so good and calm and I can actually sit his trot and canters.

Today was just a quick ride because James was leaving to go to GMHA and he was talking to me and all of a sudden he's become nicer which is a shocker! But anyways, I hung around with him for most of the day.

Recap

Monday - I did trot hill work. I started out in the front field then trotted up to the grass hill. Its a wonderful feeling being able to trot away from the barn without any problems.

Tuesday - Jump day, Kelly and I rode together. I jumped just one jump since I was too lazy to put more out. Yesterday was the FIRST time I actually had fun jumping the WHOLE time! I thought to myself that I can enjoy jumping again! Who would have thought after Pokita?Videos to come. At the end of our ride, Kelly, James, and I went out to the back fields. We had so much fun!!! James had my camera and he was taking lot of blooper photos of Kelly and I. On our way back Kelly and I started to go different ways to see who would get to the storage building first. All of a sudden, no warning, Mason jumps up in the air with all four feet off the ground! The two things that were going through my mind was 'omg, I'm going to fall off' and 'Oh shit, we are going to gallop back to the barn' but after Mason's jump up he acted like noting happened. This was the first time when a horse spooked and I laughed and didnt have a panic attack! I'm not sure if it caught me so off guard or what, but I started laughing after I realized what happened and when I knew Mason wasn't going to do anything bad.

Wednesday - Today the temptures were up in the 90s. Since I worked in the AM and since it was so hot I gave Mason the day off. So I gave him a full bath today, when he was done he was SHINING! I cant wait to see if he is still shining tomorrow when i go to the barn. Gail and James were at the barn today. Gail came up to me and told me that James said he thinks of me as an older sister!! When Gail said that I was just in shock! In a good way, it touched me! James is a great kid! It made my day!

Heres a video of our awesome jump ride. Thanks to Kelly for the video

Jump lesson

I just had the BEST jump lesson with Lisa today! Even though I only jumped over cross rails it was amazing! We did a mini course and we didnt throw or refuse one jump! Well... there was one jump that almost got missed, but we made it, it wasn't pretty but we got over it! So the plan is to do the jumper show on Thursday and just do the cross rail class... and maybe the 2-2'3 course and then make my final decision to do the 2 phase at flatlands on July 1st. EEEKKK! I'm so excited that I actually have a chance to show!!!!!

Jump ride

I jumped Mr. Mason yesterday and he was amazing! We jumped 2' maybe? He was amazing! I'm having a lesson with Lisa Sunday and going to jump, and if that goes well I'm going to do the jumper show on Thursday!!! EEKK! I'm so excited! Thursday was the first time I actually had fun jumping my own horse! What a great feeling!

Training ride

Lisa rode Mason today. Lisa doesnt even trot a full circle yet and shes already telling me shes in love with him! Hearing that made me feel good. She ended up jumping the stadium course and she had a blast!!!!! I was kinda bummed that I didnt get to jump him but I am glad she got to sit on him and have fun. She needs a good ride.

It sounds like I am going to Flatlands in July! I am super excited! I might try to convince her to let me do a mini cross rail stadium course and possibly cross country. We'll see.

Erin had a saddle fitter come out for a couple of people today. Great news! The saddle fitter said he is able to fix my pessoa saddle! So I can keep that which I am super excited about! Now I just need to find a dressage saddle. The guy had one but I wasn't in love with it. It fit Mason pretty well but it didnt fit me. I gotta talk to mom and see how much I can pay for a saddle.

Out for a hack

Yesterday I rode quickly because we had a huge ride on Thursday and also because I went to the beach. We did a quick warm up in the ring then went out back to the cross country course. Mason was so good and brave!!! Not one spook, he was very focused on what was around him. Not to mention he could have cared less that he was leaving the barn and all his friends! Knowing he's brave will force me to be brave, relax, and trust my pony more!

This weekend is Valinor's USEA show. So he got the day off. Horses were in during the day and when I took him out at the end of the day he was awesome! Until a tractor came by and spooked him, I cant blame him since the tractor/roller was SUPER loud, would have spooked me as well if I didn't know it was coming.

I hope I can hop on him quickly tomorrow. Monday either I or Lisa is going to ride, and I'm crossing my fingers he gets to go do stadium and cross country! How fun would that be?!

Past rides**

I knew this whole blogging everyday would end sooner or later.
I'l try to recap all I can.
Monday - I cant remember what I did
Tuesday- Rode inside because the weather was crappy out. I tried to get both rides done before Erin started teaching in the indoor. My ride was going well until Erin came in with a group lesson. Of course they were jumping. So that was a disaster in itself. It was going perfectly until they started jumping. I was pissed off which didnt help Mason. Thankfully Kelly came to the door and I started talking to her. I decide to go outside and finish my ride. It went pretty well considering it was cold, windy, everyone was inside, and Jack was on the tractor. We did one quick canter circle both ways and called it quits. At the start of the driveway Mason started to trot back to the barn. I really hope this doesnt mean he's becoming herd bound again. I need to get him out to the back fields ASAP!!
Wednesday - Mason unfortnitly got the day off since Pokita was leaving Thursday
Thursday - Pokita left in the AM. At the moment I'm doing very well. When they came to get her? Well that another story I rather not live through again. Lets just say I started to cry in front of Jack! He's seen it all! Totally shit faced, crying, falling into jumps, yep... At times I feel like I'm a 5th daughter to him. Anyways, as much as I fought with that mare I will always love her, I never realized how much I really loved her until I saw her leave today... I feel the tears coming so I'm just going to stop talking about this and start talking about my ride on Mace today.
Thursday - After my horse leaving, I talked to Jack for awhile. I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't there. Then I did a little show prep, since I had a scheduled lesson at 6 I went home around 3 to rest and get ready for my lesson. Of course Lisa texted me saying she cant come down. I'm a little glad she didnt teach me because I had a great ride towards the middle and end. The beginning we were running through the stubben bit.... fun stuff! There were polls on the ground so I worked on having him TROT over the jumps like they werent there. That took some work but we finally got it. I decided that since the rest of our flat warm up was good, and I had a good canter we would canter over some polls. He had no problem cantering over them like they weren't even there. I'll have to ask Lisa what that is about, cantering over polls like its noting, but cant control trotting over them. Riding him made me feel good thankfully! I did a lot of canter work, both of us were tired at the end. Riding for a long time was partly because Sarah was feeding and I didnt want to talk to her about Pokita leaving, especially since I was just talking to her in the AM.

My friendship has really changed since she got that boyfriend. I need to find new friends who are MY age!!! These are the new people I hang out with. Sarah, Lisas student who is 18, Kelly 16, Kara 17, and I try to be friends with Alison who is 14-15? Not too sure how old she is. How can I forget about Martha and Gail who are what in their 40-50s. I started to be friends with Mindie and Amy but they are weird!! Sadly they are the only ones who are my age! Ugh!!! Every now and again I will hang out with Emily who is 18-19 and Tayla who's 18 but leaving for school in NC in June or July :( Damn I need to find new friends and a boyfriend!!!!!

Totally went off topic with this post, but whatever.
I have a lesson tomorrow with Lisa so I'll try to post about that since this weekend is the show and I doubt I'll be riding. Going to try to hide out on Sunday, we'll see how that goes. First time in a long time I don't help/ride at a USEA show. I guess its a new ME!

Lesson

I had a nice lesson yesterday with Mason. We were working on prompt transitions and riding a true 20 meter circle in the middle of the ring without running into walls. It was easier said than done. All in all he was very good!

I didn't have much time to ride Pokita so I hopped on her bareback. Wow, what a good pony she was! There were some small cavaletti jumps set up in the indoor. For some dumb reason I decided to pop over them, just at the trot. I had soooo much fun!!! Was it pretty? No of course not but it was a ton of fun! Then I decided to try to canter over them. Wow that was even uglier, but I stayed on! I wish I tried to jump and ride bareback a lot more.

Today both horses got the day off. For some reason I just have no energy today. Maybe its from all of the haying I did on Friday. Who knows.

Jump Ride

Last night was the jumper show, so all of the jumps were up. Thankfully Erin had a lesson with Marinade and she jumped Cozmo so almost all the jumps were put down low at cross rails.

We had a nice warm up and then I decided to try my luck at jumping, it took us a few minutes to figure each other out since this was legit my 4th time jumping him ever. He was a bit of a speed demon going to the right and he was a DREAM going to the left. He got a little quick going down a line but noting too bad.

Today was the first time I felt 100% comfortable having Mason very very forward and kind of running away from me. Its nice to know that he isn't going to buck me off... at least right now anyways. I felt so good jumping him today I wanted to do the green flower box with a rail on top which made it at least 2'3, but I decided not to because I thought I was holding too much and I need someone to be there to tell me what to do, I don't want to mess the poor guy up too much!

I have a lesson with Lisa tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.