Farrier Visit

As most equestrians know, unless you are lucky enough to live in someplace like Florida, winter makes it more difficult to ride. In my area its not really the cold that bothers me, I actually like cold weather, it is all the rain. We get so much rain in the winter months! I wish it would get colder than at least we would have snow. We've only gotten one or two snowfalls this year. All the rain means I don't get to ride as often as I would like. But it does make me appreciate the time when I do get to ride!
Yesterday the farrier came out to the farm. Mya had thrown a shoe, and she was due for a trim. I had actually called the farrier last week but because of weather he wasn't able to come. One of the nice things about my horse is that she has really good ground manners. She always surprises me at how nicely and calmly she stands while the farrier works on her feet. The farrier even complimented her on that fact. He said she was tons easier than the last horse he did.
On our last ride I began to teach Mya a new way to lunge. I had her doing a sort of figure eight in front of me. I stood next to a fence to begin to teach her how to turn and go around the other way. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly she caught on.  After that I rode her a bit. Because this was before the farrier visit we kept to a walk. I had her walking over some poles, stopping, and backing up. She was a good pony. And as you can see we had a little bit of snow that day. :)

Challenge #4

I haven't done one of these in awhile. I really need to do them more often! But here is the fourth of the 30 Thing Horse Challenge. This one is on A horse that impacted your life. When I first read this there were 3 or 4 horses that popped into my mind as impacting me. One of them being of course my first (and current) horse Mya. Another was a pony named Tony that I had some of my first rides on. I have some fond memories of later riding him and having horse races with my brother and cousins. But the horse I want to highlight here is the horse I really learned to ride on. His name is Surprise. The lessons I had on him when I was around 8 or 9 years old were very foundational to my riding today. Surprise was always sweet and patient with me. He was the perfect horse to learn to ride on. One of the cool things about him is that he was gaited. If you've never ridden a racking horse before you really need to try it. It is so cool and different! It gives you sort of a sensation like flying. Really smooth and fast. Anyways I even got to show Surprise once. That show is one of my favorite memories. We even won 1st place. Surprise, you will always be a special horse.

Let it Snow!

"Though the weather outside is frightful, the fire is so delightful." That song had been quite appropriate the last couple of days. Its been so cold! This is actually the coldest I remember it ever being here. We even got snow. Which I think is absolutely gorgeous. I love snow! I had such a fun time wondering around in it, visiting the neighborhood horses. I couldn't resist taking pictures.

 

^I think my dog loves the snow. 

 

^Cute horse in the pasture next to mine.

Christmas Eve Adventure

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 #3

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.

No stirrups!

    
     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.

Pony looking fancy.

No stirrups!

 

National Day of the Horse!

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."