I HATE snow!

Sorry I have been slacking a bit this week in my posting. But don't worry I am going to give you guys a full update. First of all I am sitting home right now hiding from the snow. Not sure if it has actually started yet but it will be starting any second and supposed to go all the way until tomorrow afternoon some time. Hopefully it won't go on too long because I would like to go play in the snow with my pony and do not want to be stuck in the house all day long. Snow ruin everything, but thats besides the point.

Anyway, lets see. Well last Friday and Saturday I was not able to ride due to the horribly cold temps. It was in the twenties both days. Low twenties. Yuck! I slept over at Ks house Saturday night during which we got about an inch of snow. K as you all may remember is my barn manager's daughter and therefore lives on the farm property. So Sunday morning after a big breakfast we headed out and rode bareback. Just a 20 minute hack around the ring; walk, trot, canter. Then Monday it was time to get back to work before our lesson Wednesday. We worked on lead changes which were a little lazy (she kept forgetting the back). But we kept working at it and ended with some nice clean changes. I think she was just a bit stiff from the cold and having a few days off. We also worked on how many times we could switch leads across the ring. It went a little better than last time, but still not awesome.

Tuesday we worked on collected and extended trot which again was awesome. She transitioned from one to the other with just my seat and legs no rein neccessary. The canter changes from collected to extended were not as easy. She was very frisky and head strong wanting to run not lope never mind collected canter. But I got in the end though I had to fight for it a little. Then again we did the leads across the ring which improved a little more but not the best. We also did quarter turns at the walk, jog, and lope. She did pretty good and her halts were nice. She did not swing her butt out, which made me happy. Her sidepass was also very nice.

Wednesday we had a lesson with our fabulous trainer R. We did things a little differently working on getting better turns for games like barrels and poles instead of working on things that would come into play in western pleasure, trail, or reining. It was a nice change of pace and a much needed aid. Satin turns well but tends to have this one step around the barrel where she gets "stuck". R as always knew exactly what the cause was and had the fix. It was really a result of my focus. My eye went down impeding forward motion and killing the turn. We had to retrain me out of my bad habit and in turn re train her. First we jogged serpentines through a set of 3 cones. Then we began loping and turning around the last cone and loping back as if we were doing barrel dash. Except unlike barrel dash there was a cone as I said and this cone was in a very small space between a jump and the wall of the indoor. So it was a very tight turn we had to make. Though as always with R accomplishing this harder task makes the real thing easier. Plus in poles we would be turning around something thinner than a cone and would want it to be as tight as if it was in the little space between jump and wall. It took a few tries but in time we were able to get some nice turns that R and I were both very happy with from Satin and I. Our homework was to go home and practice the turns around the actual barrel using my improved focus and body position. She instructed me to start slow at the lope before than try it faster if she does well. She said practice with one barrel than make it 2 than when she masters that go to 3.

Yesterday the ring was too hard by the time I got out to do much so I just walk, jogged her bareback. That was fine because she definitely had a hard workout the day before. Today the ring was nice and I wanted to get a good ride in before the snow came and took away riding days. So I put on her games bridles and decided to go do our homework. We started with some turns around the barrel at the trot to warm up. Then we did some slow ones at the lope in both directions and we got some really nice turns. I was really happy with her and myself. The old girl was feeling frisky though. On the way home from one of the slow ones she threw a few happy bucks. D actually rode Jewel with us and we convinced one of the boarders B to climb aboard the wonderful Patty. When they stepped out of the ring to wait for me to take a walk on the trails I decided to do one fast one since her slow tunrs had been so nice. She jumped into her left lead so I said okay I guess we will do it to the left even though her turns are better to the right. She blasted off bucking all the way to the barrel! I sat back, let her get a few out of her system, then tried to pull her head up. I was not able to do so until we reached the barrel which was a few bronco imitations late LOL!So of course I had to do it again. This time we did a fast one to the right and she was perfect. She went for it, total blast off. Her turn was beautiful and smooth right into her run for home. Then we went on a short walking trail with D and B so we had a fun riding day which may have to last us a few days.

So anyway hopefully I will get in some riding in the snow this weekend. Sunday I think I am going to go visit my friend H at her farm. She has a sled she is very excited to hook up to her horse who I call Boyfriend and invited me over to play LOL!

In other news school is going well. Six classes is not killing me as much as I thought (knock on wood). My photography is also getting ready to take off or I hope so at least. I am donating a photo shoot to the SPHO banquet so I needed a name which with some help I finally decided is going to be Shutter Savvy Images. I am pretty excited at the prospect. I will keep you guys updated!