February 24th 2013 Private lesson

Private lessons.... They are like the best thing in the entire world for us horse lovers. They have seriously improved my riding, and I finally got my horse on the bit and completely in sync with me!

I was riding bliss again, and here is what we did:

• Flexion on long rein at walk
• Flexion at trot (gradually shortening reins as horse gets round)
• Collection, and getting horse on the bit at trot
• Warm up cross-rail
• Canter
• 2 jump course (canter)
• 4 jump course (canter

We did the 2 jump course multiple times, so that I could learn to balance Bliss and get him calmer after the jump. When we finally did the 4 jump course we started with a 20m circle and then down the quarter line to the next jump. It was actually a tricky course because there were some tight turns and Bliss likes to go fairly fast, and he has some balance issues.

On the very last jump we cleared the whole course, and I even got him to do a flying lead change off of the last jump, and a nice flexed 20m circle :)

http://wodumedia.com

I love the lessons and hope they can continue! I love you Bliss <3

February 23 2013 Lesson # 23

Hello :)

This week went very well, I rode Dandy and we are starting to work well as a team!!! He has not recently been bolting, and he doesn't spook very much with me now. I am very glad I got the chance to ride him because he has taught me a whole heck of a lot. Heels down, eyes up, push on :) that's the rule with him. Our instructor sort of spooked him a bit today he just stopped and side stepped, looking at her all wide eyed. I just looked ahead and kicked him forward because really that is what he needs when he second guesses himself!

What we did:

• Flexion at walk
• Flexion at trot
• Trot rising and sitting without stirrups
• Warm up jump across diagonal
• 5 jump course
• 3 jump course (second time around)

We had a jumping lesson this week, with the 5 jumps, and then because of time constraints my instructor had to cut down the course to only 3 jumps. It was still fun though. Dandy was calm over all of the jumps, and we worked well together. Not once did i truly lose control of him. I had a couple of problems with keeping my heels down but other than that we did a good job together. He is such a sweetie with me and I can see why someone would buy him now (I couldn't before for obvious reasons)


I also got the chance to ride for a second hour on Spud (who i used to rise when I started jumping) There is a class after mine that I help to volunteer with, and usually I just help teach/assist. This time only one of the students had showed up so me and my friend got to get up on the horses and go for a nice relaxing ride :)

I had to show the students a couple of times where to go, and I led them around a couple of serpentine then we got to trot around! At the end of the lesson the students got to go bareback on lead. Being older and more experienced etc. I got to get on and ride bareback which I haven't done for a really long time! Spud is really smooth to trot bareback and I barely slipped around at all. I was allowed to mount and everything all on my own too which was fantastic. Then we got to groom the horses and help out and go home :) I also have a private lesson tomorrow which I will tell you about at a later date!

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February 10 2013 Private lesson! Bliss

The is bliss *not me in picture* (www.flickr.com )

So I have stared Bi weekly private lessons with another coach at our stables. I was so lucky to be riding Bliss (my favorite horse EVER) in my private lessons. We are a good match I must say <3

We started with a very long rein, flexing and getting him round. It was great to have the arena to myself for an hour! After flexion at the walk we worked on flexion at the trot. He was a good boy and listened well. I had a couple of problems with pulling my elbows back but over all we had good understanding with the coach (who has coached me before :) ) We did some flexion at canter and then went over a warm up jump on the quarter line multiple times. Some of which involved me going into 2 point the whole way around the arena until we got to the jump and then staying steady while he jumped over. It really improved my 2 point I must say. We also worked on timing, and counting strides.

She set up a course of jumps, with fairly easy approaches and lines. There was only one jump I had trouble with and that was a jump set up across the diaganol where it was a very tight turn that I wasnt ready for the first time around the course, we got over it easy enough but the approach was less than pretty :(, the second time around the course was brilliant and we flew over it. I really want to buy a horse like Bliss when I can :)

I will update you on the following lessons, and private lessons excluding tomorrows. Thanks for reading! And please follow my blog and comment!

February 9 2013 Lesson # 21

Hello!

So this week we had another break through with Mr. Dandy :) He was the best boy, and worked his heart out.

We did:
Flexion at walk
Flexion at trot
Flexion at canter
Rounding
Jumping course
Verticals!!! :)

I was extremely happy with Dandy this week, and I am finally getting some trust from him. We started with flexion on a long rein, and then flexion at the trot. We started over a little cross pole at a trot following each other in a line. Dandy was calm even in the very beginning and he was incredibly respectful <3. We also did approach at trot and cantered out. After warming up over that cross rail in both directions we were given a 4 jump course to ride. It was very easy and just helped us with flexion and approach. Dandy was an angel the whole time, and even after she put the vertical up he was collected and ready. No spooking nothing. Even when a huge hunk of snow came crashing off the roof right over us, he cantered along nicely trusting me that is was ok :)

I am starting to like this guy :) thanks Dandy I love you :*

February 2 2013 Lesson #20

This week we worked on:

Flexion at walk in both directions
Flexion at trot w/ and w/out stirrups
Flexion at canter
20 m circles at canter over 4 poles (at tangent points C, M, H, X)
20 m circles at canter over jumps and poles. Jumps at M and H.
Walking out to cool down

I could have sworn I was making some progress with Dandy the big chicken, but apparently all went to waste this week haha! He decided to be spooky, and flighty but I guess thats how you learn to ride. I accepted his challenge. We did okay over the ground poles on the 20 m circle, he took some pretty big strides and took some effort to get over the pole at M near the viewing wall. I could tell without the jumps even set up he was high but we worked over that hurdle.

When we started jumping he decided to bolt, and over jump the jump by M. I must say I was really not expecting him to do that. Lets just say we now know I can jump over 3ft. :) It was quite a thrill. Then over the next jump he went into a choppy trot, and rocked back on his heels, refusing the jump entirely. I wasnt unseated, and since he was known to refuse I made him go over the little foot high jump from a stand still. I held on and he way over jumped it and went from standstill to mad gallop. We had a very entertaining lesson.  He also galloped and dead stopped into a wall throwing me way onto his neck, lucky for me I apparently have mad ninja skills and stayed on for the whole lesson.

The only reason he didnt spook when all of the snow came crashing down was because he thought it was Higgens (another horse in my class) snorting after his round.


Thanks to Dandy for giving me the ride(s) of my life.... literally :)