HAPPY NEW YEAR (entirely too late, but no one cares ;3 )

So... 2013 wasn't the best year... it was a decent year at least. Dezi baby girl was excellent for most of the year. She's 3 years old and has only been under saddle since April, the fact she is still fairly obedient (much more so than her mother was at 4)... is great!

Dezi was the 2013 SGSDS Starter Horse of the Year for Training Level, with an average of 64%.

Tori and I have been battling uphill for the never ending race to Third Level! We've got our fundamental trot & canter half-pass, still eeking out that darn shoulder-in, love using 6-8m voltes: way better than 10m circles, a lot less time & less room to worry about not having bend, bc if you don't have bend for a 6-8m circle... ya ain't got much of a circle!

We had our first foray into 3rd level... competed in our club's schooling show, and without changes we earned a 54%! The changes come and go... she's not entirely certain WHY she needs to do them, but she's gotten much better at counter-canter. /sigh.


... incomplete thoughts. enjoy. :D

How to get a sponsor: a guide for all riders

How to get a sponsor: a guide for all riders

Inching along...

Ridiculous weather, trainer's family emergencies & mysterious equine  illnesses seem to be plaguing me during the last week or so...

I figure I shouldn't really work tori until Tilen comes back... Further discussion of this will happen tomorrow morning with the trainer...

Dezi has a mysterious lameness aka thar's prolly an abscess abrewin'! And poor City has hives on his head, chiggers all up & down his neck & mane & legs, and his sun blisters are still healing... Nnngh. I wanna get going dammit!!!

Tentatively planning on taking City to the OTTB show @ the new jersey horse park in October... Gotta at least have a respectable Training Level 3 & First 1 by then and gotta build a costume for him... HALLOWEEN COSTUME CLASS!!!!

Outside of that only other show I've got to look forward to is the SGSDS Championship show with Dezi. Hopefully we'll get to Training 2/3 by November. :3

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