For starters, a late Merry Christmas to everyone! This year we traveled south to spend Christmas with family. While we were there I got the chance to go horseback riding at this stable.. I was kinda nervous before I got there. I hadn't ridden at this place in 2 or 3 years. When we got there my two cousins rode western but the instructor asked me which discipline I would prefer so I went with English. She put me on a gelding named Chris. Chris is a bay like Mya and he is also an Arabian. At first I had a little trouble on having my balance and being centered in the saddle while doing a rising trot. The terrain was uneven and I was riding a horse I'd never ridden before so it was difficult at first. But I got the hang of it eventually. Chris was a gorgeous horse to ride. I really had a fun time. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
^ Chris is the middle horse.
Sadly I didn't know that I was going to ride while on vacation so I didn't take any of my riding boots.
Now that Chris is all hot and sweaty, he gets hosed off.
^This is the horse my cousin rode. His name is Vic.
Challenge number 3 is: A picture of your best riding I really have no idea what my best riding it. Depends I suppose. So I guess I'll just go with this picture from my last lesson for English riding.
My last riding lesson went really well. It was difficult yet fun. I rode Night again. She is now officially my regular lesson horse. Night reminds in many ways of Mya. So that works out pretty well. I am loving learning how to ride English. To me it seems to be a lot more brainwork (which I love) and it is very elegant. I also think English is more natural in some ways to the horse. But anyways I am really enjoying it. This last lesson we worked a little on collection and bending, and then I had my first lesson on posting without stirrups. I've ridden bareback several times but I had never ridden in an English saddle without stirrups. Needless to say it took me a bit to get used to it. But eventually I got the hang of it. It really helps to improve your balance.
Happy National Day of the Horse! I figured it was appropriate for me to write a blog post since its today.
The weather has been cold the last couple of days. Its been below freezing. That sure makes Mya frisky. I went to give her hay this morning and she was running circles in her pasture. She's enjoying the cool weather, and was too excited to eat! What is funny is Henry (her companion goat) trying to keep up with her. For a small goat he did a pretty good job though I think he would rather have been eating the hay than running around.
The other morning I got up and everything was covered in ice and frost. With the sun just coming up it was really pretty. I knew I just had to get out there and take some pictures.
Bear keeps me company every morning when I go around and feed my critters.
The sunrise was very pretty.
Good morning Mya!
"Here why don't I just stick my face in your camera."
Horse challenge number two is "A Picture of Your Horse". This is a fun one except I have so many pictures of Mya! I guess I just have to pick one. So here you go. A picture of Mya.
Looking through all my pictures of her I decided just to be random and post this picture of her running in the pasture.
I saw this really neat idea on another horse blog and I thought I'd give it a try. Its technically a 30 "day" challenge (I assume you're suppose to do one every day),but since I doubt I'll post every day I'm just going to call it a "30 Horse Things Challenge". :D So here is list the list.
30 Day Challenge
1. A picture of you and your horse 2. A picture of your horse 3. A picture of your best riding 4. A horse that impacted your life 5. The last time you rode your horse and what you did 6. Your most accomplished horse 7. Your best ribbon 8. A little about the barn/stable you are at 9. Any injuries you've gotten from riding 10. How does your family and friends feel about your riding? 11. Find a sale horse online that you want to buy 12. Favorite horse color 13. A picture of your worst riding 14. Your dream barn/farm 15. If you could say something to any one horse, what would you say? 16. Your most recent fall 17. Your equestrian idol 18. Your favorite horse show picture 19. A discipline you would like to try 20. Your favorite horse show 21. Your favorite schooling outfit 22. Describe the importance of riding in your life 23. First horse you rode 24. Your best riding buddy 25. Your dream trailer 26. Biggest riding pet peeve 27. You know you're an equestrian when....(list five things) 28. Helmet or no helmet? 29. Favorite brands...boots, breeches, tops, helmets, etc 30. Your future with horses I'll post these things whenever I can (I'll do them in order) as well as my regular horse posts.
So before my last lesson I was really excited because I might get to ride a new horse. I had gotten to briefly meet her the week before and she looked like a great little mare. So I was really hoping I would get to ride her. When I got to the stable my trainer told me that I would indeed get to ride the new horse, and if I liked her I could keep her as my regular lesson horse! I was told she is an Anglo-Arabian mare, and her name is Night Actually I think she is the smallest horse I've ever ridden. Which was pretty cool I think our sizes actually fit each other. (I'm pretty small) So ofcourse our lesson started out with me grooming her and tacking her up. It was nice not to have to use all the extra riser pads like I had to on Desi. She did really well on saddling and bitting. It was kinda a rainy day so I decide to ride in the covered arena. I actually think I like the indoor arena better anyway. We started out by warming up at a walk and just getting to know eachother. Night is pretty responsive and sensitive much like my own horse Mya is. I think Night and Mya actually have several things in common. They're both sensitive, alert, and have spunky personalities. Though Mya is definitely more spirited. (but more on that another day) Anyways Night's trot threw me off at first. It was so different feeling than Desi's! But once I got used to it and got in a rhythm I loved it. We worked a lot on moving off leg pressure and bending. When all said and done I think it was a good lesson. I really liked Night and I am going to continue riding her. Now my goal is to apply what I have learned in lessons to my riding at home on Mya. I think Mya will be a very good English mount once we have practiced a lot.
Wow, I've been super busy lately. Not much time for posting, but a lot of neat things have happened!
I have been continuing will my English riding lessons. They have been going really well. I love driving out there every week! The barn is just awesome. It is well-kept and the people are friendly. Its really just a fun relaxing place. The riding itself I have really enjoyed. And I think I am learning tons. We are working our way up to jumping. Started doing 2point over trot poles this week. So not bad. We're getting there!
I also visited some family for two weeks, and I got to go with my cousin to her horse barn. I ended up going 3 times. Twice to ride and once to clean stalls with her. (which I actually really enjoyed! lol) She rides western. I really had a fun time riding there. Can't wait to visit again!
I rode Roxy (left) and my cousin rode Grace who is a young BLM mustang (right)
So I went up to my lesson stable for another riding lesson today. Desi was of course lovely to ride. I love how he is one of those horses that will keep on going and I don't have to be constantly reminding him to keep at a trot. With that said I think I'll be sore tomorrow. We did a TON of trotting an two-point. But I can practically feel myself improving. I feel more solid in the saddle and not as stiff. It is a really cool feeling when you can actually feel the movement underneath you as what the instructor was saying. She was showing me today how I can direct the horse with my position not just my hands. And WOW it was so cool when I finally got it! I have never been that excited to have stopped a horse in my life. I mean I slowed down and stopped Desi all using my seat. Way cool.
Mya has been having issues with her feet. Really annoying. Seems like I get one problem fixed and she invents another. But we are getting there.. slowly but surely... Anyway she says hi.
So I guess its official! My new lesson barn that is. I went back for my second lesson a week ago and loved it as well. (I know shame on me for not posting sooner) Once again I rode Desi. I'm enjoying this sweet gelding. He is a little older but still has lots of spunk. I think he will be a great teacher for English riding! I think even though its only been two lessons that my posture and posting have already improved tons. I felt far better balanced this time when trying to post. (this is pretty different for someone who learned to ride on gaited Tennessee walking horses!) But I am really enjoying it. I have another lesson tomorrow. We will be working on my 2-point position tons I bet. I have to master 2point before I start jumping if I want to jump well.
For some odd reason I wanted to jump over this log. :D
warming up
cute Desi
And a video of my posting trot skills. lol
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
You may or may not know but for like months I've been trying to find a
decent place to take riding lessons. I'm really wanting to learn to jump
and ride english "properly" so I've been searching for a lesson barn.
The first or second one I went to the teacher was nice but then I saw
the horses and was like whoa. No. They were ill cared for and super
skinny. Needless to say I didn't go back to that place. I also visited
this other barn that had this huge Frisian horse. Absolutely gorgeous.
But they mainly did saddle seat and no jumping. So didn't go back there.
So I almost gave up but then my mom was like "Come on, lets try one more".
(the 5th to be exact) So last Friday me and a friend went to visit this
stable I'd found on the internet. When we got there the first thing I
noticed (besides having a nice driveway) was the horses were all really
well taken care of. So to make a long story short I liked it. And I went
back for my first lesson, it was sort of an evaluation lesson. I liked the
teacher and I think I'm going to continue taking lessons there. First english
lesson I've ever had. Pictures!
And no blog post would be complete without a picture of my mare. Mya has an abscess in her front foot several weeks ago. So she hasn't been ridden recently, but its cleared up now. If the weather holds I'll be riding her tomorrow. I made a short video of her. Mainly to see if she's still footsore.
So today was just a fun day. I pretty much just hung out with Mya and gave her a bath. 'Course made this little video as well. And if you notice Henry followed us everywhere. lol. Cute goat.
Planning on getting the farrier over sometime soon. Mya needs shoes. You might be able to tell in the video but she's been a little foot sore lately....
Bath Time!
One of the nice things about having to get up early in the morning is that I'm there when the sun comes up. It makes for fun picture opportunities when I go out to feed my critters. This morning Mya and Henry were my camera targets. The whole time I was snapping pictures Henry was telling me to hurry up and feed him. Mya agreed of course. The two of them get along quite nicely.
