Last Few Lessons

The two lessons following the last horse show were spent focusing on improving our flat work. We spent a lot of time on the trot. In the lesson following the show I think we did an hour of just trot work. In that lesson she did very well to the left as far as giving me a good pace and getting on the bit and staying there without much maintenance. The right was another story. The right is the bad direction for a both of us. I tend to let my right shoulder get too ahead of me, so we did some exercises to fix that such as riding with my hand on the back of the saddle. She was also refusing to bend and drop her head in that direction. Renee was having us do the exercise where I bring her head in as far as I can and then let it go, as we had done at the canter a few weeks ago, but to the right she was not having. Finally my body couldn't take it anymore and I had Renee got on to work her magic. She got the same resistance, but after about 20 minutes of trying some different tactics she started to get some really nice stuff. She had me get back on and told me lateral half halts worked much better than our previous tactic. By the time I got on Renee had her going so beautifully I didn't have to do anything. She just stayed going along perfectly. In between lessons, I did not have much luck getting the head set as nicely we Renee had been able to. When we had our next lesson the following week though I found out why. I did my warm up and asked for the head set the way I had been doing at home. Renee pointed out that my issue was my hands and elbows. She said I needed more bend in my elbow to make a smoother line from elbow to hands to reins. I also needed to lift my hands to achieve this. Once I did this she went right on the bit and into a beautiful head set and trot. What a huge difference something that seems so small makes! We also did the same work at the canter, but I had locked my elbows a little to much at this gait. Renee gave me an exercise I call the Superman to fix this. Every few strides she had me put my arms straight out in front of me to loosen my arms and body and get the feeling of where I need to be. This week, it was finally nice out on a lesson day so we were able to ride outside. We started with our flat work, which Renee had though was much improved over all. I was still not quite right with my right shoulder, so we did the hand on the back of the saddle exercise again. Then we moved on to some courses. Renee didn't give us a warm up jump, but instead had us jump right into the course, so our first course was a bit iffy. I called it practice LOL. The next time through the course was a little better. We had a few rushy spots, especially on our bending line. Renee then gave us a second course. The course started out well with a nice even pace through the first three then got a bit rambly. Our final jump was a single diagonal, which had been part of our bending line, going in the opposite direction now. We were cantering along quite nicely, then about 5 strides out she started to suck back and stared down at the jump. I could feel she wanted to stop, but I put my heel in her and kept my focus up and she went over. I was quite proud of myself, as was Renee, because her sucking back would normally cause me to go with her and result in a stop. After this Renee had me do an exaggerated position with my shoulders very low, but my chest and chin up. She had me do it down this one line that she was getting particularly quick on to show my that that position slows her down better than sitting up or going to the reins as I had been doing. It made it ten times better. Then she had me do my first course again and wanted me to do whatever I had to in my position to make the course nice. Well, that was a bit of a fail. There was basically nothing nice about the course. She got quick in spots, took some short and long distances, etc. I did the course again and this time I kept my eye and position steadier and worked on the lower position. This was our best course so far. She stayed at much nicer pace all the way around, including a better bending line. The only thing that neither Renee or I liked was our final outside line. She had rushed a bit into it, but I got her to hold and not get the long distance coming out. We worked on that line by itself a few times and finally got it nice and smooth with good distance. Overall, it was a successful lesson and I feel confident going into our next show this weekend.

2nd Hunter Show

Sorry for my lack of posts. I have been crazy busy with the end of the semester, working, etc. Anyway, Satin and I had our second hunter show at the end of April. She put in yet another great performance. She once again warmed up perfectly, staying at a nice pace and jumping everything with this ease. The course involved a bending line, which is something we practice often at home, so I knew Renee would be happy to hear that and that it would be no problem. Our first course went pretty smoothly. She got a little quicker to the first and last singles, but was pretty consistent in between. The second course had some issues. She had a late lead change coming off the bending line, which made the turn to the next diagonal not as nice as could be. We also had a break to the trot coming around to the outside line, not really sure why. The break to the trot messed with her striding in that line though, so it didn't match with our distance in the other lines. The third course, had another late lead change, but was otherwise okay. The flat work was better than last show. She kept a nicer trot and more consistent head set. I think the canter is what helped her in this class, since that seemed to be when he looked at her the most. We ended up with a 6th in this class again, which I was happy with out of 12. She earned a 6th in the first course, nothing in the 2nd which I expected because of the break, and nothing in the third, which I was surprised about, but I was happy with her course so that is ok. Sorry for the lack of details, the show was a few weeks ago now so it is not as clear in my head. We are going to another show on Saturday from a different schooling series. Renee thought it would be a good idea to get her out another time since there is 6 weeks between our last show from our regular series at the end of April to the next in the end of June. I will try to post earlier this time!

Wondermare Strikes Again

We had yet another awesome English lesson today! My little wondermare never ceases to amaze me. Our main issue these days in the English realm is the trot. Satin is a bit of a lazy trotter and hates moving out into what I call the "Big girl trot". We have been improving it little by little each week, but this week we had a major break through.

She started off the lesson with a pokey trot, so Renee decided to hop on and see if she could find the key. Well, as always, she did. She would start by framing her up at the walk and then the sitting jog. Once she was round and on the bit, she would then push her up into a bigger trot. It did not come easy, even for Renee. Satin did put up a bit of a fight and had some swishy tail "I don't want to do this" moments and broke into the canter a few times to avoid the work of a big girl trot.

After a few minutes Renee had me get back on and try the exercise. I started the same way she did, rounding her up at the walk / sitting jog then pushing her into the big girl trot. We got some absolutely BEAUTIFUL trot. She stayed perfectly framed and on the bit and moved forward in a nice big trot. We would go a time or two around then stop to praise her and than again, in each direction. After that we did some canter work and with both the trot and canter worked on round downward transitions.

We finished up with work on the serpentine using two side by side jumps, that we have been working on the past two weeks. We had some rough patches, but overall it was much improved. She isn't cutting the jumps as tight or jumping them on a diagonal. She is jumping straighter and her turns are nicer and wider, though we could still stand to use a bit more of the ring.

All in all, I am very proud of her today, especially her improvement at the trot. We may have a future in Hunters after all!

Another Great Lesson

Last week we had another great English lesson. Our lesson partners Lisa and Lexie were back in action. It has been raining all day, so we were in the indoor, which leaves limited space for jumping. It did, however, give us the opportunity to do a lot of good flat work exercises.

We started with shoulder-in at the walk in both directions, then we added some trot and canter to that. We would trot half the ring until we got to the long side by the door and then come back to the walk and shoulder in down that side and repeat. Then we did the same thing, but added canter instead of trot. This exercise was great for transition work as well, which the princess pony is quite sharp at. Afterwards Renee set two rails on the ground parallel to each other. One was a few feet from the indoor wall and the other was at the center of the ring. She had me stand parallel to one and Lisa across from me standing parallel to the other. She had us go around in a circle, never taking our eyes off of the other, and we had to stay across from each other the whole time. Each time we passed the rails, Renee would call out a command, such as sitting or posting trot, canter, reverse, halt, etc. It was fun and quite helpful.

Next, Renee set up two small verticals next to each other (well not right next to each other, they were a few feet apart). She had us do a serpentine exercise where we picked up our left lead down the long side and around the first jump, then turning and coming over it. We would land on the right lead and go over the next jump, land on the left lead, canter up a few steps and halt, completing a serpentine pattern. A serpentine over two jumps doesn't sound that complicated, but put it in a small space and it requires a lot of collection, focus, and smoothness. The first time through she stopped at both jumps as she sometimes does the first time she approaches, but then she went over them and completed the pattern nicely. Every few times through Renee raised the jumps. We probably went up to about 2'6". We worked on focus and smoothing out the turns to use up the space we had and make nice straight approaches. In the beginning Satin wanted to cut the turns short, which had her jumping the jumps on a diagonal. By the end though, she was jumping perfectly and doing the pattern quite smoothly.

Perfect Hunter Pony Has Returned!

Last week Satin and I had a fabulous lesson! As Satin has come further along in her jumping training, she has been slowing down over the jumps and going around more like a hunter. The last couple of lessons however, she reverted back to jumper pony and was a speedy gonzales through the courses. Also, last week Renee and I decided to up her grain ration to two full scoops of sweet feed at each feeding, in order to help put some more weight on her. She is a little horse so I figured this new feeding program would add to her hyperness over the jumps.

Luckily for me, it seems to have had the opposite effect. In our lesson last week (the first since the diet change) she jumped like a perfect little hunter pony. We have been working on developing her trot which is much better. We also worked on my position at the trot which needed some tweeking. Then we worked on two point at the trot and canter which in Renee's words was "perfect" which made me quite happy.

As we cantered around going from our normal seat to two point, Renee had us pop over a simple white vertical, just using it as part of our circle. She had me go up into the two point as I approached the jump so all I had to do was release as she went over, since I was already up in a two point. This worked very nicely for both of us and we got some beautiful jumps and some "perfects" on my jumping position, which again made me a happy camper as that has been one of the things I have been working on the most.

After a few times over the vertical to warm up, Renee gave us a course to work on. We started with a shorter course of about 6 jumps. After a time or two through that, Renee changed the course making it 9 jumps, which included a two stride, diagnonal, a few singles, and a three jump bending line. Height wise, the course ranged from 2 foot to 2'3" with maybe one or two 2'6" jumps in there. It was our first time ever through a two stride and though height wise it wasn't large and they were plain verticals, I was a bit nervous. Satin picked up on this making the first time or two through a bit awkward, but after that I got over it and it rode quite nicely.

She rode through the whole course beautifully and at the perfect pace. The first time or two through the longer course she got quick going to the last two jumps because there was a long canter distance to get to them so she got a bit anxious, but after a few times through she settled and rode the whole course at a nice, even pace. Renee was quite happy with both of us and I was feeling quite confident about the course by the end of the lesson. When we are both in the groove with out jumping we do quite well. When she is in fast paced, jumper pony mode I get more disheveled which translates to her and we don't ride as smoothly. We are both getting better with each lesson though and Renee is slowly but surely working to build my jumping confidence.

Satin even jumped like a perfect hunter pony again on Saturday at home. This was even more shocking because she tends to be even quicker at home. I just did some lines and single jumps then a short 4 jump course, but she remained nice and quite through out. Then Ember, who rode her in the Firecracker Fun Show jump-off, wanted to get on. So, she jumped a 6 jump course and she though she got a little quick for her in the beginning, once they both settled into each other she rode quite nicely.

The icing on the cake was yesterday though. I was riding bareback with my friend Shannon and I just had Satin in a halter with the lead rope tied to the loop on the bottom under her chin. Shannon and I decided to switch and she asked to jump her over the crossrail. She jumped her bareback with no bit in her mouth and going in the direction of the gate and she went along perfectly at a nice, even hunter pace! I was quite proud and surprised and think this new diet may be our friend rather than the enemy I thought!

Firecracker Fun Show = Huge Success!!!

I could not be happier to announce that the Firecracker Fun Show, which I have been writing about (and of course planning) for the past month, was a HUGE success!!!! We raised over $3,000!!!

It was an absolutely amazing day! I could not have asked for better weather or turnout. We had a good amount of riders, horses, and attendees. All of our classes were very full and everyone had fun whether they rode or not. People have been writing and commenting to me over the past couple days saying how much they enjoyed it and what a great time they had.

The family was especially grateful, which made all of the hard work and planning completely worth it. I was so touched by their words of gratitude. Both of Caitlyn's parents expressed their thanks over Facebook and her family members that attended all hugged and thanked me personally over and over. It was especially emotional and heart warming between Renee and I. The whole experience was just so rewarding for me in more ways than one. I can't even fully express it. I was not the only one overwhelmed by the generosity and support shown by all of the attendees. As someone said to me the entire day had such a good vibe. I was so happy to be able to help this wonderful family. Renee has always been so good to me and has gone above and beyond to help me, so I was more than happy to be able to help her. Plus, I am fully aware of what it is like to have a family member with cancer. My uncle lived with us when he battled lung cancer and I'm sure Caitlyn's young age makes it that much more difficult.

I also have to once again express my thanks to all of those who helped me make this possible: Kayla and Daryl who worked side by side with me through out, Lauren for letting us host it as the farm, Katie for running the ring, Amy for judging, Sue, Mary, Shannon, my parents, Kelli and everyone who volunteered their time during preparation and the day of. I also have to thank all of our generous sponsors who donated money, goods, or services. This includes Central Jersey Horseman's Association who sponsored our ribbons, C&C Embroidery who donated and made our Cure for Caitlyn shirts, Terrace Bagels who donated 4 dozen bagels, Dr. Klayman of Colts Head Veterinary Service, Mike Mullin, my family, the Hoffmans, the Harvey's, Beauty Store and Salon, the Nieto's, Quail Creek Pharmacy, the Ebners, Sarah Wayda, Gina Giovenco, Casey Koehler, Lazy M Feed, AB Tack, and so many more.

The Howell Patch wrote a great article about the event, which can be seen here.

We started the day a bit later than planned, but that is a horse show for you. When it comes to horses you can never stick to a schedule. The entire day ran very smoothly though. We started off with our pairs obstacle course, which I won along with my partner, Kayla (yes I have decided its time to use full first names). We followed that up with a switch class, in which riders switched horse and were judged on how well they rode and presented a horse they were not used to at the walk, trot, canter. I was extremely lucky to switch onto my trainer Renee's horse Portas. Portas, or the Big Man, as we fondly call him, is a beautiful warmblood gelding with a puppy dog personality. He is also a gorgeous mover and extremely talented jumper. I was lucky enough to ride him once before at R's farm and even jump him a little. Renee's brother rode Satin in this class and Renee rode Taz.

Portas had been a little spunky for Renee in the first class so I rode him a bit conservatively and just let him go around as he pleased. Unfortunately, we had a break at the left lead canter. I circled to get him out of the pack and unfortunately half of the pack circled with us leaving us no where to go. We recovered the canter quickly though and took a 5th in that class. My friend Ember actually won the class on Lexie, my lesson partner Lisa's horse.

Another highlight of my day was in the next class which was the jump off, which we split into ponies and horses. At the last minute mt friend Ember asked if she could take Satin in the class and give her a try. I said sure go ahead and she ended up taking 5th and going over her first 3 foot oxer! I was a very proud Mom!

I let Destiny, one of the girls from my old farm run Satin in the barrels. I did not expect her to run as she usually doesn't at home. But, apparently she knew it was a show and was ready to go, though luckily did not display the enthusiastic hopping and rearing she does at other horse shows. Destiny had never run barrels before and did great! They had fabulous turns and got 3rd to two very fast horses (one being Kayla's horse Smokey). Her sister Shyanne did a dash on her as did I and we got 4th. The Big Man aka Portas had some pretty nice barrel turns too!

Next was the relay race. My team, which consisted of myself, Kayla, Ember, Shannon, Renee, and Doug, won. This was followed by a pairs command class, where Kayla was again my partner and we took third. After that we had ride-and-tie, in which it was a team of 2 riders and 1 horse. The first rider runs the horse fully tacked to the opposite end of the arena where the 2nd rider is waiting. They hop off and tag in the second rider who untacks the horse and runs it bareback home. Kayla and I used Smokey so we were once again the winners. The final competitive event for the day was ride-a-buck, a bareback class in which a dollar is placed under your knee and you are given commands to follow. You keep riding until you lose your dollar. It came down to Renee and I as the final two and I knew I was done for. As you all know I speak very highly of Renee as a rider and trainer and there was no way I would out ride her, plus my mare is quite bouncy while Portas is smooth as silk. The normally docile Portas, however, forfeited the class for them. While backing up Portas decided to stand up. A 17 hand horse in full rear right in front of you is quite a site to see and add a leap to that rear and you are really into something. Needless to say this was a bit much even for Renee and she slipped off, putting an end to our bareback dual, which otherwise might have gone on quite a while. We ended the class winners once again though I am curious to see how it would have gone if Portas had not ended it for us. Though, I am pretty sure I know the answer to that!

Renee, Portas, and I at the end of the day.

We Jumped Big Girl Jumps!

Today, Satin and I had one of our solo lessons. It was raining all day, so we were in my trainer's small indoor. We started with work on our posting trot, since Miss Mare isn't really a huge fan of the forward, working trot. We worked on pushing her out and getting her to extend and move forward. R had us go to the sitting trot and frame her up, tuck her nose in a bit, and shorten her back to give her more power in her trot as I moved her back up to the posting trot. We worked on getting slight contact and the frame in the more forward trot as well.

Afterwards we did some work on our flying lead changes. R set up two sets with two poles in each set. We cantered figure eights through the sets, using them to get our lead changes. She nailed her lead change from left to right basically every time. Right to left was a bit of a different story, as she would get crooked and loose the hind end. With some pointers from R, we were able to fix this and get nice changes both ways.

Then R added a small vertical to our pattern. Well, at least it started as a small vertical, probably under 2 foot in the beginning, as an extra pole to work on the right to left change, which she got easily coming off of the jump. Soon though R was lifting the rail. Every time or two through the "course" she would walk over and lift the rail a hole, thinking I wasn't paying attention as she was giving me instruction as she did it. She can be quite sneaky when she wants to be. LOL Eventually she got the jump up to about where we have been jumping, around 2'3. Then she lifted the jump a hole and sent me over it on its own. I did it though not without some hesitation. Luckily, Satin had no hesitation and sailed over beautifully.

"How about one more hole?" R said next. I gave her the "do I really have a choice look" and shrugged my shoulders. "Whatever you want". So up went the rail one more time. Satin knocked the rail, but due to rider error. Her toes clipped again on the second time, again my fault as I came out of my 2 point too early. The third and fourth time though she sailed right over and did so beautifully according to R and other onlookers. Felt pretty nice to me too!

Afterwards I asked R about how high the jump was. She brought out her handy measuring tape and announced that it was just over 2'9"! 2'9"!! I was shocked! I figured it was about 2'6" at the most, which was about as high as I thought we would really ever go as my mare is older and small. Seems like I underestimated us both, but luckily R never does!

Last Week's Lesson

Last week Satin and I had our second individual lesson. R started out by asking me if I took Satin to jump at a horse show next year, what would I do? My reply was, "Vomit". LOL What R meant was Jumpers, Hunters, etc. I had always thought the jumpers looked fun as I have a need for speed, but on the other hand until I am more confident Hunters may be a better fit. I expressed this to R, when my other response of "Whatever you told me to do" did not suffice. R agreed that the Hunters were a good basis for everything and that we would focus on that this lesson. She decided we would do some English Pleasure in our warm up since that is what I originally inquired about when starting these English lessons (though now I think Hunters or Jumpers are more my thing).

Satin hates to trot. She prefers either walk or canter, and gallop of course! The first thing we did was work on getting her to extend her stride a bit and go in a more forward trot, which we achieved with the help of a vine that served as a crop. One thing about Satin is that you never actually have to touch her with the crop (or in this case vine). All she has to do is see it and she gets the picture. After waving it by her eye a few times she was trotting right along. Her canter was pleasure perfect so that wasn't a problem.

Anyway, after that R reset the jumps to be more Satin's size and told me to go warm up a bit before she gave us our course. Well, Satin decided she was only jumping the jumps in the direction of the in gate, but not the opposite direction. We tried and tried for about ten minutes and then all of sudden she changed her mind and was ready pop right over everything in both directions. She is quite the silly little mare sometimes.

After we had managed to get over the jumps in both directions R gave us a short hunter course to do of an outside line with two bending lines. Satin went over everything very nicely and she gave us another slighty longer course adding another bending line, with much more bend then the other two. The old mare never ceases to amaze me though. She took all of the jumps beautifully, going at the perfect pace, like she had been a hunter all of her life. I managed to do pretty well too, if I do say so myself. R was very happy with us both. Maybe a hunter show is in our near future after all.

Gambler's Choice Lesson

Last week I had my regular bi-weekly lesson with my friend L. We started out with our usual warm up flat work. Satin was a bit stiff and a little sluggish at the trot (which is typical, she hates trotting). We did some exercises to fix that, such as changing my seat to encourage her forward and breaking up the trot with a few strides of canter here and there to wake her up. This helped a bit then we did an exercise trotting a quarter of the way around the ring, then cantering a quarter of the way around, then trotting, etc.

After that R decided we would have a bit of a competition and instead of giving us a set course or exercise as she usually does, she said we would do some Gambler's Choice. For those of you that don't know, Gambler's Choice is a jumping competition. When done at a horse show, each jump has an assigned number of points and the riders have a designated amount of time to jump a course of their choosing and acquire as many points as possible. Usually the rule is that you can only jump each jump twice (once in each direction).

Anyway, in our version there were no points or time restraints. R said just keep jumping until you mess up (meaning you get a stop). We were allowed to jump each jump once each direction and as long as we were still trotting or cantering we were still in. She had dropped about half the jumps to a height Satin was capable of jumping. L started and got 3 jumps under her belt before getting a stop at the fourth. I did not get that far. The first jump rode beautifully and went to the second expecting a stop and I got one. It was totally my fault so on my next turn I rode more confidently and got through about 6 or 7 jumps before getting a stop when I last minute turned to a jump Satin wasn't expecting. After that, we had no issues and she jumped everything she could in every direction. We even through in a few jumper turns. R and I were both very happy my jumping position as well :)

Introduction to Grid Work

Yesterday Satin and I had a solo lesson (as my loyal readers know I usually lesson with my friend L and her fabulous mare and Satin's best friend Lexie). Anyway, L and I usually only lesson every other week and starting with this week Satin and I will be taking private lessons on the off weeks. R and I discussed it and I thought this was a great idea. It gives me a chance to work on improving my English riding as Satin and I are both still learning in that department and a weekly lesson will speed along the process. It also gives me more continuous reinforcement of the things R is teaching me. Plus, it will give me a chance to get back to some western lessons too. :)

We started with some basic warm-up flat work. R had a grid set up that she had been working with one of her other horses on. She suggested we work with that. I was a little intimidated by this set of four jumps right in a row. L was never a fan of them and while I had seen her and several others (including R the day before) do them, I had never done any myself. R was her usual wonderful, reassuring self and told me we would take it slow, set it for Satin's striding, and slowly build it up as we went along.

We started with the first jump set as a cross rail, with three trot poles leading up to it. The last of the jumps was set as a small vertical gate. First, I trotted the gate on its own a few times to warm us both up. We had lengthened my stirrups this lesson and I felt a bit off balance at first by that, as well as, the fact Satin was popping the small gate like a deer. Anyway, then we started through the grid which R added canter poles to each time we went through. At first we had to work on pushing her trot forward so she did not suck back through the grid, as Satin hates doing a forward trot. After a few times and several canter poles R put jump number 2 into a very small vertical, basically a raised cavaletti. Satin was apparently shocked by this change and stopped for a hard look, so I trotted it solo and she was fine. After a time or two of this she added the third jump, a small plain vertical, then finally raised the second jump into another vertical of about the same height. It was basically a one stride from jump 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 then a two stride to the final jump. After we completed this successfully a few times, R made the first jump from a small cross rail to a small vertical. I did not think Satin would stop at this, as it was not a major change to the grid, but apparently it was enough for her. I thought she was going and went into my two point and she hit the breaks hard. I was thrown forward (probably mostly due to my not yet completely steady balance in an english saddle) onto her neck. Luckily my feet stayed in the stirrups and my mare remained still as my whole body was on her neck with my feet still in the stirrups. In R's words "a very nice save".

Anyway, R's main focus for us with the grid was to keep Satin slow and calm and work on her striding with the jumps and for me to work on my position and releasing. The first few times were a bit rough for both of us. But, with R's patience and guidance we got some very nice trips through the grid. Satin was going through very nicely, at a calm steady pace (though she did get a bit quick the first few times we went through after all 4 jumps were up, but settled nicely). I, again thanks to R, got some very nice two points. I found my comfort spot to stay in through the grid and bent forward in perfect time, keeping my hands forward and releasing. R was very happy with us both. We ended by cantering over the straw jump a few times to practice the position I had just worked on with a canter jump and again R and I were both pleased with the results.

In the end R asked if I was still intimidated by the grid or if I now agreed with her that they were fun. I did end up really liking the grid work. It was fun and not as intimidating as it looked from the ground. It also really helped me with working on my position because I felt like I had more chances with the four jumps in a row rather then a two jump line. The slower pace helped too, as did the fact that R was standing beside the grid coaching me through it since she was adding and raising every trip or two. All in all, it was another successful English lesson and the grid ended up being very good for both Satin and I.

Another Overall Successful English Lesson

Yesterday I had yet another English lesson. It is becoming kind of a routine now. We did some basic flat warm up. Then R had set up 4 jumps in a small circle, which she put down into 4 piles of poles. We started with those trotting the circle then cantering it, which went well. We had done a similar exercise over the winter in the indoor.

After we did this a few times, she put the poles back up into small verticals. This made the exercise harder, a circle of small jumps may not sound hard, but anyone that has done it understands it is. You have to keep a consistent, even pace, have a good focus, and steady seat. It helped to slow Satin down. She did a nice collected canter all the way around.

To the left we did pretty well. My seat and eye were much more consistent and where they were supposed to be. To the right, was a little stickier. She kept taking the one jump that was facing the gate from the long spot and lunging, making it hard to get to the next jump because she was quick and crooked. At one point when she did this it got me all discombobulated and I between trying to fix myself and fix her to get her to the jump I inadvertently asked her for a whoa. I got her to the jump, but also got the whoa so she put on the brakes right at the jump and I went over it without her. Apparently it was quite a spectacular fall according to my witnesses. I basically did a back flip off of her and over the jump landed on my feet in a squatting position, with the reins in my hand. R said I looked like a vaulter. Other then a little whiplash I was fine. I climbed right back up and went and did the circle again.

I fixed my eye and got that part of the circle smoother and it rode better. We tried again one to the left and one to the right and she was a bit tired and got dull. I fixed my seat and got her into a more consistent pace and fixed that, but was still all discombobulated to the right and couldn't get it. R gave me some tips to fix my seat and between that and fixing my eye my next two times around rode very smooth and perfect.

We had a few bumps in the road, but it was all in all a successful lesson. Today we just did a light hack since we both worked hard yesterday and tomorrow we are hoping to go team penning since we haven't done so in a while.

Updates: Satin

First and foremost is of course my wonderful mare, Satin. She is still as feisty and young at heart as ever. We are a little more than half way through our show season now and she has been perfect. At our last show, which was last weekend she ran 3 absolutely perfect patterns. Her barrel turns couldn't have been tighter or smoother, her poles run was just about flawless, and her rollback in keyhole was right out of her reining horse days. The only thing that could have made it better was if she gave it a little more speed. She ran, but not as fast as she could, but I was still very happy with her. Other than our usual show series we have also done a gymkhana at a local fair and team penning.

We have also begun expanding our repertoire to (drum roll, please) ...... English. Yes, you heard me right! As you all know I have ridden english a few times on my horse and friends' horses. I even took an English lesson back in the fall, but between lack of tack and a fall over a jump, Satin and I took a bit of a hiatus from our english riding. I decided to give it a second try though and approached my trainer with the idea of an english pleasure lesson. Well that one english pleasure lesson has become a series of English lessons. My trainer has this very subtle way of getting me to do these things LOL. At the end of my lesson she will say something like "Next week when we jump, we will try this." etc. I think she is also secretly turning my pony into a hunter as she has not been slow enough for english pleasure these days LOL.

So far, so good though! Our last two lessons, Satin has been perfect and I have been trying my best to keep up with her :). My eq over fences needs work, but we are both still green to this whole English / jumping thing and with R's help we will be pros in no time. In our last lesson we jumped a mini course including a roll top and a hay bale jump. I'm quite proud of my little barrel pony.

In other Satin news, we moved to a new barn in mid-July. For reasons that are just way too much to get into we moved to the barn right next door. All of our friends moved with us though, and everyone at the new barn is very nice. We love it so far.

At the time of the move, because things were not crazy enough, Satin got a swollen leg. She has had this one or twice before but it did not respond to my usual treatment of hosing, walking, and wrapping. It started on a lesson day so I took to her R for evaluation. We walked and trotted her for a bit, cold hosed the leg, and R did a standing wrap. She also had not been finishing all of her grain for 2 or 3 days before this. She never spiked a fever but her temp fluctuated from low normal to high normal to mid range, etc. After 2 days with no change in swelling R suggested a vet visit. R is not one to sound the alarm unnecessarily so I did as suggested.

The vet tested her for lymes and suggested a hosing, furazone leg sweat, walking, and bute regimen. She also started her on doxy, an antibiotic for tick related diseases. Within two days, the leg swelling was down and once she was settled in her eating returned to normal, as well. The lymes test came back negative but she remained on the doxy for 10 days anyway. Whatever it was it seemed we caught it quickly and she is now back to her normal healthy self.

Some recent photos: