Lost time

So I definitely did not decide to start a blog and then disappear for almost two weeks.  Life just kinda got busy.  So this post is going to be a short and sweet recap of what has been going on.

Wednesday (Nov. 6):
  

Why yes, he does look handsome in purple!

 

Hacked around then schooled some jumps.  Had one minor blow up when he dropped a rail and I had to get off to fix it, then when I got back on he decided to buck when I asked for the canter, and rush the next couple of jumps, so we went back to trotting a small one till he decided to get over his pissy-ness.  Also did some no stirrup work.

 

Saturday and Sunday (Nov 9-10): 

    Went to a Buck Davidson clinic with my trainer and another girl from the barn.  It was freezing!!!  Really glad I went though.  Learned a lot of stuff, which I put to good use when I rode after the clinic on Sunday.  Also learned that I am so not fit enough to ride with Buck. The warm up exercise he had everyone doing wore me out when I tried to do it during my ride.

 

Wednesday (Nov. 13)

     Flatted.  Honestly don't remember much from this ride.  Guess that means he was good?

 

Thursday (Nov. 14)

   Jumped again, trying to do one of the exercises from the clinic.  Exercise was:  a ground pole, two strides to a small jump, then two strides to what would have been a bounce if the poles were up.  Jump up through the line, then turn right between the first and second bounce standards, then come back through the line and turn left between the first and second bounce standards.  Rinse and repeat.  Really difficult at first, but as I continued through it, it got easier.  The exercise was designed to force you to really balance for the turns along with using outside rein/inside leg, but also making sure your horse knows where his feet are and being responsible for their own balance. 

 

   Otter got super sweaty doing this -he has returned to fuzzball state despite being clipped once this fall already, so I put his cooler on him and returned him to his stall to dry off.  Hung out with my friend while she rode, then hopped on her horse to hack him around/jump him a bit.   Was a lot of fun to ride a different horse and really good for me. 

 

Saturday (Nov. 16)

  Took advantage of the slightly warmer temps and flatted outside, Otter was slightly up and wanting to explode through trot/canter transitions (which we had an issue with at our first and only show together so far), so we spent about an hour working on transitions and relaxing.  Again, sweaty pony, so sponged him off, then hand grazed him.

When he finally dried off, I put him back in his field and then grabbed my camera since I needed to take some pictures for my photography class.

 



 

After his photo shoot, I put his sheet back on and headed home.

 

Sunday (Nov. 17)

  Jump schooled again.  Worked on the exercise again, went much better, although Otter started figuring out when he was suppose to turn, and was automatically turning vs letting me steer.... Ended by going over an oxer a couple of times.  He was super chill today, taking everything in stride.  Love my pony when he is like this.  Super sweaty again today, took him almost an hour to dry enough for me to put his blanket back on, so clipping him a second time is definitely in our near future. 

 

Barn again on Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

Thanks for reading!