Rain, Rain Go Away. Come Again NEVER!

I absolutely HATE this gross, rainy weather and it's supposed to be like this again tomorrow. Luckily its supposed to be a gorgeous weekend for the horse show, 80's and sunny! I can't wait! Tuesday (which of course was the last nice day this week) I could not ride because I had my brother's high school graduation, which was an all day affair.

I did get to ride yesterday however. It was dreary and misting on and off, but the sun did come out for a little bit and it was warm so it wasn't bad. Satin and I had did some more schooling since show prep is now kicking into high gear with the show only a few days away. It was pretty good for the most part. She was a still a bit quicker at the jog and the lope than I would like, but I made her a do a lot of circles and really work, especially at the lope. We did some more sidepassing, which she did nicely. We also jumped a little, not too much, just a crossrail, but she did it beautifully. She did not rush or bomb it at all like she did in our last lesson. She trotted to it nicely, jumped it perfectly, then came right back to the trot after when asked, which I was very happy about compared to our speed racer jumping we had last week.

Last night I also had a meeting for the horse show association since I am on the board. It was actually pretty good for us. There was no arguing and it ended in less than two hours, which is a miracle in itself. Before the meeting my barn owner had to check out a pony at the barn that was hosting the meeting for us to use for summer camp. She asked me to ride him so she could get a look at him. He was a cute little flea bitten grey medium size pony. He was very sweet and all around a good boy. I probably looked funny on this little 13 hand pony and riding English, especially since the other two girls in the ring were riding huge thoroughbreds Lol. He was a cute jumper too and after one of the jumps I lost my stirrup and he just eased to a stop and waited for me to fix it instead of taking off or what not as other horses might.

Today I saw one of my best friends from high school that I haven't seen in like 6 months so that was nice and had lunch with a high school teacher I was and still am very close with. Then I went out to the barn to ride in the rain of course. It was only drizzling, so it wasn't that bad. I ended up riding Satin for over an hour and half. She was a bit quick at the jog and lope again especially one handed. Luckily for me and Satin though, my trainer was at the barn today riding Spice (my barn owner's mom's horse) who she is riding once a week to do some training for his owner. Since I only take my lesson every other week my last lesson before the show was last week so I was glad I had an opportunity to talk to her again before the show. She asked me if I needed help with anything so of course I took her up on it. She gave me some excercises to try at the jog and we did not receive as much of a response from Satin as we would have liked, so after she finished with Spice she asked to get on for a few minutes to see what I was talking about. She rode Satin for about 15 minutes and saw immediately what I meant since she had been having me do a give and release to slow her down and as soon as you released she sped up again, especially if you went from two hands to one. She showed me some other things to do that helped a lot and then had me get on and worked with me a few minutes. She suggested I ride her two handed doing a combination of half halts and give-release exercises she showed me all the way up until the show, including in my warm-up at the show, but to also do 15 minutes of one hand work using another technique she showed me, then end with two hands. This is one of the reasons I LOVE my trainer. She took time to help me out and give me a mini lesson really when she was out there to work another horse and took the time to get on the horse herself to get a better understanding of what was going on. She is also super detailed in her instructions and explanations which is really helpful. Also, getting to see her ride my mare and do the exercises helps me know what I am looking for when I do it, such as the specific arch in her neck, etc. Anyway, if she continues to be responsive to these techniques then we will be ready to go on Sunday. Tomorrow I will school her again and clip her then clean my tack, which I hate doing, but has to be done.

I also rode my friend's Standardbred mare today since she was sick both today and yesterday and couldn't make it out to the farm. This mare has not been ridden by anyone other then her owner for the most part since my friend got her about 4 years ago. The only exceptions really being me or one of the other girls getting on for a few minutes when we are out playing around or the one time our trainer got on her. Those few times someone else did get on her she was not that happy about it, so I wasn't sure how that would go, but she was actually very good for me. We did walk, trot, and canter and she was nice and collected and listening. We also did some cavalettis and raised cavalettis, which she did very nicely. Then we rode around the paddocks a little bit also doing walk, trot, and canter and again she was great. I told my friend she is just a brat for other people when her Mommy is watching Lol.

Anyway, I have a busy weekend ahead with the horse show and my brother's graduation party, but looking forward to a fun-filled weekend with gorgeous weather. Tomorrow I am going to visit my Lar (my friends STBD gelding that I ride) and then going to the track with my friend (he is a groom in a STBD racing barn) because he has a horse racing, so that will be cool to see the behind the scenes of the track. I will let you all know how it is!