Saturday was the first 100% stress free day I’d had in quite a while, so I celebrated by spending all day outside with ponies and my camera. If that doesn’t lift one’s spirits… I don’t know what will! Since several riders at our barn are getting ready for the early March hunter derby and I’m working towards the late April one, our trainer has done a great job doing “derby lessons” that offer more challenging courses than the typical outside…
Due to Austin’s “Snowpacalypse 2014” last week mixed with spending all day playing cross country on Saturday, Mr. Simon hadn’t been ridden in three days before my lesson on Sunday. On top of a fresh pony, the wind was nuts so I knew I was in for a bit of a wild ride. The lesson started off with building some gymnastics. Trot in to a one stride to a one stride to a two stride. At first, Simon was alllll about…
Whenever I tell my husband that we worked on gymnastics during a lesson, he comes back with “Wow, so Simon was doing some cartwheels and some hand stands?” He’s a funny, funny guy. So that’s where the title of this post comes from, because on my Sunday lesson… we did gymnastics! And there were photographers there, so I’m blogging about it 🙂 Traditionally, we have a hard time with gymnastics. You can read the back story about the first time…
I grew up going to NCSU (go pack!) games with my Dad. Every year he had season tickets to football and basketball, and I would join him at least a few times per season. We both liked basketball the best, and the reason my Dad prefers basketball to football is that he says that basketball is a momentum sport. The team’s performance swings a lot in highs and lows, and some good momentum can really turn the game around. I…
After kind of a crappy week all around, my luck started changing on Thursday and I had an excellent weekend both hanging out with my mom and spending some time with Simon pants. On Thursday, I ran out to the barn at lunch to check my gimpy creature. He looked nearly 100%, so we decided to turn out. Saturday when I had more time I inspected the area on his heel that had been hot and puffy. It was noticeably…
This past weekend, two riders from my barn rode in the Bernie Traurig Clinic. I tagged along with my trainer and fellow barn-mates to audit, and had a great Saturday watching the 2’6″-2’9″ group, the 3′-3’3″ group, and the 3’6″+ group. Bernie is a great clinician, and the creator of Equestriancoach.com. The 2’6″-2’9″ group spent a lot of time on some flat exercises that a few riders were having trouble with, so for the purposes of this write-up I’m going…
It should be no secret to y’all that my horse and I have some work to do on the flat. How he is easier to jump than he is to hack is a mystery to me for sure! After the last show when I didn’t even try to do the under saddle classes, I knew it was time to get down to business on improving this situation. When my friend was visiting, she flatted Simon and made him look like…
Simon got his first adjustment from the Chiropractor yesterday. It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for a while, but the schedule was never lining up. When my trainer texted me yesterday and said the chiro would be out and she thought it would be good for Simon to get done, I agreed with her… even if I will be eating peanut butter and jelly for a bit. Gotta love the timing of paying things for the pony! I wasn’t…