Everything has a Purpose

I write this after having a great weekend with my ponies! I realize that just because I am getting Lily ready to show it doesn't mean that Pickles needs to be on the same path to success. I don't think that Pickles is going to be going to any shows and although it is good for her to have basics it doesn't mean that I need to hold her to the standrds I hold Lily. Pickles LOVES groundwork and trailriding more so than the dressage and jumping. And while she will do the other two she just doesn't seem good at it. She will jump anything I put in front of her but I just don't see us ever going to do the jumpers as I had previously imagined.

With funds not being ample at the moment I need to focus on Lily and maybe use Pickles as my decompressor. Take her for walks around the farm and trail rides with the pups. Hop on bareback and toodle around and not worry if we are where we are supposed to be in my plan. I will of course still let Lily have off days where we dont work on staying in a frame and moving off leg.

It is funny how these things just come to you and you see the world in a different light. Jess and I went on a trailride with the dogs after I had an amazing ride on Lily. I just hopped on Pickles and off we went. Through mud and creeks and trees and she just seemed so happy without a care in the world. Ears forward and walking with anticipation of what might be around the next bend (while occasionally nipping Scoops in the rear). Horses definately have to love their jobs and while she doesn't hate the other stuff, she definately loves toodling with me on sunny days :)

So for the spring and summer at least Pickles has been repurposed to my trail pony and whatever other fun things pop up....

Seeing is Believing

After realizing that there is enough time in the day to ride BOTH girls I have taken on the task of actually doing it :) I had great rides on Thursday and Friday the girls got off as it was date night with the boy. So Saturday we went to the barn because it was beautiful weather! After a quick walk with the dogs, Keith and I venture out to grab the girls. I get Lily and he gets his favorite Pickles <3 Groomed away as their hair is coming out in clumps from the weather changing and then tacked up Lily to go ride.

Now it has been quite some time since I have actually had a trainer. Honestly probably Hollins is the last time I took an actual lesson to work on me and my position and all the technical things that go along with riding. I have taken her to D John's a handful of times in the past two years for problems I have been running into but never the work of an actual lesson. They had been more of a this is how you fix this problem and here are some exercises to take home for your tool belt. So I don't really get to hear or see any progress that I have made or even if we are heading in the right direction.

So I was fortunate enough to ride when Michelle was riding and she videos her rides!!!! So I actually got to see what Lily and I look like. I was so pleased with what I saw :) We had a major break through in getting her to step up and use herself the other week when I applied my outside aids more than I normally do. I have to defiantly hold her through everything or else I just end up pushing her out with no support. So after a nice warm up I worked on having her really hold herself and step up into a Nice big trot. I usually post but find that if I sit she has more loft and impulsion from my seat and leg. So I would really drive her for one side of the arena and then let it go. It was so awesome so be able to see what I need to improve on and what I am feeling actually looks good!

So I am really excited to see the results from the past 2 years. Lily has really turned out to be a nice horse and I hope to continue to make the progress we have made each day. I am thinking that I might go out and get my own video camera so that I can tape myself more often and monitor the progress that I am making. ALSO on another note....Seeing myself on camera I am not as much of a chunk as I thought I was!!!!

Back on track...

So I love how I can read others blogs for hours but never find time to post about my own. I have started posting them to FB and it is funny because the things that I vent about or realize on this translate to others who might be going through the same things. So besides it being an important avenue for me to let everything out I might find that there are others out there going through the same things....

After a weekend of doing everything none horse related including going to a drag race with the boy, and taking Monday off to help a friend who just lost her mother, Tuesday crept up and I realized I hadn't seen the ponies since THURSDAY! Well Pickles had a spell of not feeling to well on Sunday so I ran by for a brief moment but I hadn't done much more than shove a cookie in their faces and went about my merry way to clean my house...

So Tuesday night rolls around and I am expecting wild ponies from the Amazon so I plan to do groundwork in the indoor since the ring is still a bit wet and well it was dark and kinda windy and well I wanted to do both ponies and didnt want to tack up...excuses, excuses. So I get Miss Lily out and I can already tell she is on her A game. All attention on me! I go back to basics and get the carrot stick out and do the Parelli games because sometimes it is good to go through everything and not just new stuff. She did great and we went over them for about 20 minutes breaking loose and moving correctly. I get the wild hair to do side passes down the wall to make it easier for me and to really make her perform the movement. WOW! Apparently she was not as supple and relaxed as I thought. Her feet were stumbling and she couldn't get in a good rhythm or coordinate at all. She got super frustrated and a bit anxious. So I backed off pushing so much and changed direction and we started again. This time I let her figure out where her feet were and she lifted through her shoulder and back and started to soften. I did it about 2 more times each way and then hopped on bareback and toodled for another 10 minutes. It was great to find a problem and fix it in a matter of 15 minutes!

Had the same game plan for Pickles but well she is such a pro at all the groundwork she was doing it before I even got the chance to ask. Silly pony :) So I free lunged her for about 10 minutes and then hopped on and cantered around for a couple of times and then called it a night. I have been trying to lease her out because I just don't have time for both. And I have a sneaking suspicion that Miss Picks would really enjoy a little girl to tote around. She is a sassy pony but a good sassy.

Michelle and I discussed going to some CHSC shows and doing some jumping. I am so impatient that I suggested even though Lily is a hunter that we go first thing in the morning and do the jumpers (as hunters) because the classes I would show in are the last of the day. I am just not good at waiting around the show all day so I would rather just go get experience and go slow then do the whole tied to a trailer for the day non-sense. So there is a PHJA and CHSC in April and we will shoot for one or both of those depending on if I can stick to getting out to the barn :)