Do You Ride Horses?

[stirrupirons]

@Rain: Aw, happy birthday to Riley Give him an extra carrot from me!

@Favorite events: I love dressage period, even though Thinker's bouncy, his strides are amazing, and he places well. Plus, dressage is my passion. Least favorite event is anything jumping because he and I are not jumpers xD I like cross country a lot though! Our course is a lot of fun c:

--

Hacking Thinker tomorrow D Hopefully my instructor has some bell boots laying around that fit him because I'm really worried about him forging, I don't want him to throw a shoe I need to work on my cantering seat, bending him to the inside, and two point over poles I haven't two-pointed on the flat in over a month, so I'm probably going to be terrible at it, oh well, that's what hacks are for

[classi]

I was going to comment and whatnot when I came back but I should've commented before. Now my happy mood is demolished and I'm back to normal. Great.

I had an okay lesson today. My old habit of not putting my hands on his mane over jumps just came back after taking an extremely long vacation. *Sigh* Oh well, it's not that hard to fix. I got video but I'm not posting them because A: I only got one good distance the entire time and my mom didn't get it on video, B: I'm too lazy, and C: We barely did any jumping so there isn't much to choose from.

Flatwork was fantastic, though! Especially the canter. She let me take my neck stretcher off for the flat and I am super happy about that. So, just great, my mom didn't film any flatwork. And that was the best part of the lesson.

Jumping was okay. Like I said above, my old habit came back except I didn't realize I was doing it until I saw the video. I didn't do it Wednesday, either. But there's one giant habit that just killed everything today.

I constantly feel like I have to adjust my outside stirrup. Constantly. And it is killing me. Every time I transition I feel like I need to adjust it and if I don't, it's so uncomfortable I can't focus, can't follow him... ugh. And if I try to adjust it, I have to lean forward in order to adjust it and Riley speeds up and it's terrible. I'm so sick of it happening and my jumps would've been 50% better if I didn't have that stupid feeling. That was the main reason why the jumps weren't that good.

Of course, it didn't help that my instructor was in a really bad mood and was fussing at me and everyone else over everything. So I got pretty ticked and didn't ride as well because I was getting frustrated with her. And, then, she had me canter around the ring forever trying to get me to absorb the motion with my ankle because I was locking my ankle, but the only reason I was locking my ankle was because it hurt so bad. D: My knees and my ankles were killing me, but I didn't want to tell her that because she might get upset... so I ended up sitting through a big rant about how I needed to absorb the motion, even though I knew exactly what she was talking about, and then she had my try it again. This time it was better because as she was talking, I was stretching and rolling out my ankle and knees so they didn't hurt so bad. I do tend to push my heels a little too far down and normally I would be fine with working on it, but I was already so frustrated at her getting mad at me... but I fixed the problem and she actually said "good" so I was happy with that and we quit with it. Every time I made a teensy mistake today she just ripped me apart. Well, her friend's kid just died, a horse colicked today, and a bunch of people in her family have died really recently, and she just broke her foot, so I don't really blame her. *Shrug*

I guess the lesson wasn't really bad but I'm in a horrid mood so everything seems bad today. We only jumped 2ft but I'm fine with that. I want to fix these stupid problems before I jump higher.

I made sure to give Riley some treats and although I really wish his birthday was better, I can't change it.

[stirrupirons]

Fantastic... Dover sent me the wrong saddle pad. Ugh. It's white and ugly lime green, and I ordered white and hunter green.

[Hanoverian]

What a fun topic!

@What I wear in the winter:
It's usually around the low 30's or 20's when I'm riding, but I don't really get too cold when I'm working around the horses or riding.
-Grey kerrits winter breeches if it's in the low 20's, just normal breeches if it's in the30's and I'm not woring
-Um sports bra? Lol
-UnderArmor long sleeved insulator shirt thing under my other shirts
-Some kind of athletic quarter-zip or a long-sleeve joules/joules sweatshirt
-North Face fleece pullover or this amazing thing (so thin but keeps you so warm, I recommend it completely) or a school sweatshirt
-A vest if it's cold (I have a huge vest collection lol)
-My barn jacket (has our logo on the back and my name on front)
-A scarf
-Just a random pair of gloves for working and my SSG hybrid gloves to ride in. I REALLY need winter gloves
-Either zocks or thick wool-y socks if I'm cold
-Paddock boots and chaps for riding, wellies for work (I'm getting mountain horse winter riding boots soon)
-Sometimes a cableknit ear warmer thing I have if it's windy
-Handwarmers in my pockets and footwarmers taped to my socks lol

@Favorite event:
Jumpers hands down. Willow gets wild and quick at the shows and she LOVES jumpers, she looks for the jumps and is generally a super-star. C:

@Rain:
Congrats on jumping THREE FEET! 8D That's so exciting and I'm super proud of you!
I'm glad that you had such a fabulous hack! That's cool that you worked on more dressage-y stuff, that will really help Riley in all of the other areas of your riding. And wow, it's 80 degrees where you are?! It was 23 when I rode last night. I'm so jealous. This week it's supposed to be in the 60's though so we might even get to ride outside - I haven't ridden outside since August.
AND HAPPY 11TH RY RY! Bake him a carrot cake! xD I made Willow carrot-raisin muffins once and she loved them!

I'm sorry that your lesson wasn't perfect today, but we all have those days! I have days like that too when a bad habit you've had fixed for months randomly pops up again - I've been struggling with that lately because my ankles want to get tight and they haven't done that since last May >< I'm glad that you had some great flatwork! That's a bummer that your mom didn't film. That happens to me a lot haha my mom brings the camera and then goes off and talks so no video for me >< What do you mean about your outside stirrup needing to be adjusted? Like your foot is slipping? Maybe your stirrup leathers are twisting, that always makes your leg feel weird. Or maybe it's a different length from your right and that's throwing you off.
I'm sorry that your trainer was being tough today, but it sounds like she's really stressed right now and is probably just taking it out on you, so I wouldn't take things too personally. I'm sure your next ride will be better, the hard rides always teach you the most.

@Thames:
Sorry this is late, but Welcome to the thread! I hope that you can start riding again soon! It must be hard to be away from horses for so long. D: Good luck!

@HorseLover!:
What a cute pony! Good luck with him, and keep us updated! I would love to see more photos of the pretty beastie C:

@Dolphin:
That Shadwell bracelet sounds lovely! I'm ordering one for Willow that will be either havana/ brown or havana/blue with "On Angels' Wings" on the plate. C: There is also a stamped necklace I might get off Etsy with Willow on it.

Have fun with your lessons and hacks! Tell me how they go~

@Bluebird:
Hope you had a great hack with Robert!

@Monchele:
you and Thinker look lovely! I would critique but I know nothing about dressage equitation... but I think you guys look super cute! Thinker's trot looks fun.

@Nikkelet:
The pony in your signature is super cute!~

@Hime:
I'm glad that you had a nice ride with Heta even if she was a little weird, haha. Trails are so much fun, we have seriously none at my barn, just one that takes like 2 minutes to ride, the trail down to our outdoor, and this awkward trail that leads to the highschool's soccer fields xD

________________
Had a not-so-great lesson on Willow yesterday. I hadn't ridden her for over a week, and she's had some... less experienced riders on her lately. I got on and she wanted to be a freight train. Seriously, she wanted to be so heavy. I had FIXED that and she was finally going well but then she got ridden by people that didn't know what they were doing and she got all screwy again. So I spent a good part of my warmup doing her "homework". Halts, asking her to soften through her shoulder and poll, and back. That helped get her looser through her shoulder and off my hand a bit, and she was finally tracking up... she just felt super hard to ride! She was being reactive to everything and we had some pretty hilarious spooks (e.g. Willow jumping off all fours sideways and bolting) but I'm used to that so it's no big deal and I had no problem sitting it. She had stopped being so silly for the past few months but it's coming back. ><
Canter was crazy. My trainer had me just make her gallop up for about 15 laps each way to tire her out, and she was wanting to drop her back and dive so I had to really work... she was being so WEIRD though with her head, so my trainer had me get off and switch her to a gag, which helped a lot.
We did a little 2'3 jump a few times off each lead and it wasn't great. First jump to the left she chipped in, but she almost went long and it was really strange. I gave her the exact same ride the next time and she took off long, so my trainer told me that I was doing everything right and that Willow just needed to work some things out - she was being unresponsive to my leg. Next jump was nice, I kept the same ride and got a great distance to that jump and the jumps after that.
It was a frustrating ride though, I felt like it was really hard to keep my Eq from being wrong - when Willow gets heavy my leg slips back a little and it's harder to keep my upper body. Ugh.

[classi]

I watched my videos again and now I'm in a bit better mood and I'm actually O.K with my equitation. I found a jump which I actually got a good distance and my position was pretty good so I'll post that and two of my half-seat. Please critique, but I know I need my hands actually on the neck, so don't say anything about that.

@ Hano; Awww, thank you! (:

Yeah, everyone has those days... they suck but I have to learn to deal with it. And the lesson actually wasn't very bad when I look at the videos. I've started pushing my right heel down waaaay too much (you'll see that in the pictures). It was weird because when we were circling, she told me to point my toe down because my heel was so far down, and I felt like my entire toe was just straight down. In the video, my heel was actually in the ideal range. Weird! xD That's probably why my ankles hurt so bad... I push my heels down to far. I'll definitely work on pushing on the ball of my foot and getting my heel up a bit more.
When I say adjust, I mean I feel like I need to slide my foot farther into the stirrup. I have a more detailed less tirade-y description on judge my ride. It's a really weird, stupid habit.

You're definitely right. I stayed really polite and didn't question her at all because I feel bad for her. It was still frustrated but I tried not to show it, and I don't blame her in the least bit. It must be really hard to have all this bad stuff just pile up. D:

HE'S SO OLD NOW. xD

Sorry your lesson wasn't so great. D: Guess we all just have off days.
That's really weird how odd she was being. Ugh, that stinks that a bunch of clueless people rode her and messed her up. I hate it when old habits, either horse or human, come back after they've been fixed. It's a pain in the butt.
I'm so glad you sort of got her figured out near the end, though! Remember, EQ isn't everything, lol. xD Sometimes you have to let your EQ slip for function. Of course, I've lectured you about that until your ears are probably bleeding, haha. xD Maybe I should go take my own advice.

@ Monochele; Thank you so much! I was evil and forgot to bring him carrots, darnit. He got horse cookies, though, and an extra long grooming session after the lesson so I think he's happy. xD

That stinks! You can send it back, right?

@ Favorite event; EQUITATION. And I don't really have a least favorite event. But anything that has to do with the sitting trot, really, because Riley's trot is death. Especially when he's fresh. xD

@ Winter clothes; Well, we don't have winter here. Technically we do, but this has been a really hot winter so I've been wearing short-sleeved shirts and still burning up. But, I'll do this for when it's actually cold... and freezing for us is 50-30 degrees. xD

- Random shirt (sometimes the one I wear from school, but more often than not I wear sweaters or layers so I just grab an old long sleeved shirt and wear that)
- My awesome kerrits pullover sweatshirt thing
- Kerrits sit tight'n'warm breeches in black
- My tall boots
- Zocks
- Normal shorty socks underneath my socks
- If it's really cold I wear a cute grey vest over everything
- My normal schooling gloves that I use in both summer and winter
- My helmet
- My rain boots (for not riding)

[--I am Sherlocked--]

I have really bad news.. At the end of this year.. My riding centre is getting closed down. I'm heartbroken.. I don't know what to do.. The owner of the land doesn't want to renew the lease or something All the horses have to be sold by the end of this year.. Oh my god

[classi]

@ Horse Lover; Oh my gosh.
You have to be kidding. Oh my goodness. *Hug* I really, really feel for you. That's utterly horrible. I'm really, really, really sorry. I can't believe they have to be sold! That isn't fair! I wish I could do something for you. D:

[stirrupirons]

@Rain: I'm going to return it for the white/hunter one, but it'll be an extra $10 for the pad plus shipping and handling, and it's their mistake I'm 110% sure my mom wrote white/hunter green on the order form, I even watched her write it. They're trying to say she wrote white/green, and they're taking forever to look at the actual handwritten order form. I have a feeling they're trying to cheat me out of $10 D: Plus the person I was talking to was really rude... I will get the right pad, though; if not I'm taking my money back to SmartPak because their customer service is amazing.
So sorry your lesson wasn't the best D: everyone has those hard rides though, they're the ones that make us better riders c:

@Hano: Thank you! His trot is super fun, lol, it's really big and bouncy c: and when he's really pushing from behind it feels amazing!

@Horselover: That's terrible D: I'm so sorry!

[--I am Sherlocked--]

I know I wish I could buy one of the horses, LoL. The more I think about it, the more I'm starting to cry... D: I just joined riding two terms ago! D:

*hugs*

My old riding centre sucks and I definitely don't want to go there :c

[Hime]

@Hano: lol Reading your clothes list, I think sports bra goes without saying after certain point. XD At least I can't ride without one without riding being incredibly uncomfortable.
At least if someone from that high school would ride they'd have short way to the stable. I think if you would ride every single trail piece(I think them as pieces that you can mix and match) we have it would be maybe 1,5-2 hour ride, of course depends how fast you go. But several of our trails are kinda dead ends where you have to turn around and head back at certain point, which is not much fun to be honest.

@Horse Lover: Oh my gosh, that's horrible. D: I've been in that situation as well(almost twice actually), so I know how you feel. Do you have other riding centers/schools nearby? If you get lucky some of those might buy your centers horses and then you could still see them.