ride 28...

I've always thought that riding should be an art that is more about the quality of the time spent in the saddle... not the quantity. Due to my work schedule, I really can only ride about 3 days a week, 4 if all the planets are in alignment. 3 days a week really worked out perfectly for Tori and her lameness issues and as it turns out 3 days works out perfectly for my 3 year old, whom has only been officially started under saddle sometime mid-April this year.

We're at our 28th ride, and in our lesson, we successfully completed Training Level - Test 1. So our 2 tests for show at present are Intro C & Training 1. Which is incredible, considering she's still not been ridden a whole 30 days yet. While, the tests aren't AMAZING, she does offer to do all the movements, she does them in a timely fashion and for the most part, she's not an asshole about it either. Plus, she's proud of herself and she's excited to do more work. which is awesome. :D

STEP BY STEP and day by day

Tori was fabulous for her day at Appel Farm Camp Performance Day for the 3 young ladies that vaulted on her in front of at least 100 people. Tori's never been exposed to that many people at once. She's never had a crowd cheering & clapping for her or at her for that matter. SHE LOVED IT! She listened better to me lunging her around with children standing up on her than she does when I ride her at a show! (friggen brat, lol.) ;3

Dezi has been learning in leaps & bounds. Our lesson before last, we took a stab at Intro Test C, and she was awesome (even when the horse riding in the ring with us FELL DOWN in front of us bc his rider is incompetent & instead of down shifting to trot, decided she could cut the corner in an extremely unbalanced, motorcycle-leaning canter and caused her horse to fall [dezi, trainer & myself were utterly horrified]).

And now for the cherry on this lovely dessert: Trainer has asked me to start working with her own home-bred 3 year old filly because I've done such a great job with Dezi!!! :D

Super excited.

also, the owner of the thoroughbred stallion I was catch riding from like August until January, has decided that he's going to move City closer to me so I can start riding him again! lol. pretty freaking awesome if you ask me!

green... not one of my favorite colors

i hate when the jealousy bug bites... i want so desperately to have the successes my friends have but lameness keeps returning. my older mare can't stay sound at competitions with stone dust footing. and now i worry about having to show my baby on it too. i'd never compromise my horses' health for my own wants and greedy desires. i wish there were more recognized show venues near new jersey with footing appropriate to horses with special needs. even if it was just sand. i'm totally fine with sand! /sigh. 

22 rides and counting!

Dezi has been absolutely wonderful. We've now worked on turning on the forehand (to establish that no matter what, she needs to move off my leg; so we don't have another tori).

All transitions are to be WITHOUT touching her mouth. (which honestly, for her, it's cake)

her canter transitions are a little rocky, but she does pick them up. and her right lead is SUPER comfy. left one is kinda "eh" but it's to be expected. its soo cool though, i had one of those epiphany things when riding the canter, realizing my reins were fairly slack, except for the play every couple strides so she understands that she can't poke her nose out ALL the time... and i was sitting up, and straight, and i was able to keep myself even on both seat bones. and i was actually able to feel how the canter goes from back to front. SO COOL.

and seriously, how many 3 yr olds can you canter around on a loose rein? xD

Moving right along!

So, last Thursday, during our lesson, Dezi and I had a few conflicts...

Conflict A.) Dezi has an overwhelming gravitational pull towards the wall of the indoor. Which eventually resulted in her trotting up the wall and falling on my leg. Which whalloped the area just above my knee cap (thankfully!) and now I have this GIGANTIC knee.
    - Side Note: I was frantically trying to get her to not glue herself up against the wall, but Dezi clearly knows best. >.>;

Conflict B.) Dezi decided that her proverbial "quarter" was up and did a "exit stage-left" out of the indoor.

So, I'm extremely glad to report that suddenly (after I purchased two ebooks last night & mused through them a bit) Dezi no longer has a dependency to being on the wall! We now make our "stop-sign" octagon shaped 20m circle at the trot. Molding her & guiding her around with my leg aids.

Not only that, but I started working some of the training level patterns with her, just because I could. The trot loops FXM & HXK = piece of cake. Even tested out the stretchie circle. and for a horse that doesn't quite understand the concept of the downward stretch for the free walk, she sure as hell caught on quick for the trot stretchie circle! (soon after we worked around the free walk and she started understanding what i was asking!)

Best & hardest experience of my life = breaking & training my own child.. er. i mean filly. :3 It is so much fun to help her learn and watching her browse through her little baby roll-a-dex to figure out the answer to the question I present to her.

baby's first dressage test

I cannot hardly stand myself. The only horse I've ever bred, the 2nd horse I've ever owned, she's out of my 1st horse (who is still very alive, and finally feeling better since her recent recurrent-injury). Dezdemona is a labor of love. She's my only "child" and like all parents, you prepare as best you can, play with the hand you are dealt and move forward. I'm pretty darn okay with the hand I happened to be dealt. I have an 85% cooperative 3-year-old filly, whom I had the opportunity to help bring into the world, so she and I have bonded since she hit the ground. She's been the friendliest, most forgiving, loving horse, I've ever met and I'm so happy that she's mine.

 Our first show under saddle was extremely nerve racking for me. I didn't have enough time to lunge her (not that she really needs it, it's more of a learning/repetition tool than to get her "naughties" out), so I simply hopped on and started warming up.

All things considered, we received a 63% for Intro Level - Test A and won 2nd place. The things that need improvement...

• steadier connection in the bridle (and steering)
• listening to the aids (leg aids in particular; and creating a more forward energy, especially in walk [she felt like she was gonna stop at any moment x.x])
• better balance
• free walk (she needs to learn to stretch forward & downward and reach for the contact)

All-in-all, those things will improve anyway as she matures. (but that still won't stop me from buying a few kindle books to help me understand how to make learning easier for her ;D)

Puddle jumping

So, Dezi and I had a successful puddle conquering experience.

Freshly rained thanks to Tropical Storm Andrea, the one side of the outdoor has some sizeable puddles. So I figured we could do some work riding through them, seeing as though we have our first show next Saturday, and I want it to be an extremely positive experience for my widdles.

And... to be quite honest, after that Fidler Run Show... I'll be damned if one of my horses isn't gonna be a mudder.

At any rate, after a bit of coaxing, Dezi walked into the puddle, and proceeded to murder it with her front legs (stompstompstomp). We were able to walk & trot through it going to  the right. Not so much going to the left, but these things take time. ESPECIALLY if you wanna do it right.

In other news... i found an awesome deal on ebay & I'm getting my birthday present early! A lightly used pair of Konigs!!! :D

and in addition... an awesome deal appeared on a facebook group... also acquiring a lightly used mattes pad for tori (since it's taking forever to get around to re-purposing the one that recently died). :D HORRAY!