LOCK

[Toppyrocks]

Had a good lesson! It was tough work, and Jesse was being a bit difficult, but I'm still making progress and I understand more, which is good.

I think Jesse decided to be afraid of cars today. And corners. And walls and the ground and looking nice and being obedient. xD. We had some more him testing me and me convincing him that being good is actually a lot easier.

[excalibur.]

@ everyone:

I went riding yesterday on one of my ponies. He is only 3 and he was adorable until I had to walk him back home. He came up to a junction and he decided to go the other way. My friend and I tried to go the other way as she had a very jumpy pony.
He wanted my other horses and he was trying to go home but he was going the wrong way.
I am going on my other pony today with my same friend and we are going for about 4 hours maybe even more.
I am going hunting with my big ThoroughbredxShire horse in the Autumn and it is going to be fun. I am also hunting my grandad's friend's Hunter. Whuch is going to be fun. If you want anymore information, PM me.

[psychodrama]

Evil was down the stables yesturday, and thought it would be a a good idea to tell the pony day kids I have Special Needs (Which I dont) But I was P***** off with her as she kept being horrible about RUby and suprise suprise she wasnt caught. But When I went down RUby nickered at me and Merrylegs Whinneyed" Aww my lil darlings. But I'm still really annoyed >.<

[OneRowdyNight]

@Rowdy: I know how you feel! I have some fun ways to spice up your riding routine, though, if you'd like to hear. xD Well, fun things and some of the torture my trainers have me do!
.Take your stirrups off your saddle and connect them together into one giant loop. Put them in front of your saddle so that one strap is in front of the pommel on the saddle pad, and that you sit on the other in the deepest part of the seat. Don't mount this way or else you'll be dumped. xD It really forces you to use your calf, knee, and thigh for support, not your stirrup. Also, if you have any weight distribution problems with your riding, it really brings them out so they can be more easily fixed. After a few weeks of riding like this, you will have the thighs of a god, no joke. XD
.Do lots of suppling exercises to build up that pony's butt! ;D Walking up and down hills - nothing faster than a walk. The walk is hardest for them on incline! Do millions of serpentines, figure eights, and corkscrews.... bend him, get some leg yields, etc.... Work on your extended and collected WTC. The extended shouldn't be out of control and unbalanced, and the collected shouldn't be plodding and lifeless. Ooh! You could do lots of transitions too. (: Halt to canter would be amazing eventually if you don't already have that down.
.Grids. Grids and gymnastics. They may seem scary, but they actually force you and your horse to have the right position/jump correctly. You could make a little baby grid with poles first! Take three poles and lay them out as a bounce to a one stride. After you are comfortable with that, make a small X with the second pole and a larger X with the last one, leaving the first pole flat... |Is pole. so... | x X Eventually you can raise the jumps, but the jumps should always get bigger as the line goes on, or at least stay consistent. Don't start with a big jump and end with a small one. No. My favorite grid goes bounce one stride bounce one stride with 2 foot up to around 2'6, ending with an oxer. xD So... | is vertical now. So... | | | | || FUN!
.If you aren't entirely comfortable with a ton of jumping right now, pole courses are really fun! Start simple and then work your way up to an extreme Jumper course of poles. You can practice your flying changes with this too! Do roll backs, bending lines, etc. with lots of direction changes so you can do your flying changes.
.If you have a field or unused pasture you could set up a little cross country course! Just drag some logs out for a log jump, some straw bales for a straw jump, some potted plants for a plant jump (o.O), a tarp for a ditch, some brush for another jump, some rocks for another, some random stuff on another... xD
.Take your stirrups COMPLETELY off your saddle for a day ;D


You probs already know that but I'm talkative and ramble on a lot. xD I hope that you find SOMETHING in there useful.

We're working on leads, because he has gotten bad about starting on the wrong one. (ALOT) We worked in the inside arena and did alot of work on me. I was up in 2-point for ten beats, then down for ten beats, etc. I am sick and too lazy to type, but yes, that was super helpful!!! I hope I can take a lesson saturday. ;-;

[excalibur.]

@ Anyone
Today I went riding with my friend and we went through a puddle and one of my friend's horses Beacon went in the middle and was
kicking the water about.
He splashed my pony Simba's side. His grey coat on the side suddenly turned brown.
My baby blue numnah turned brown aswell. It was hilarious. My horse was getting spalshd while my other friend's
horse Goldie was moving out the way. She never got splashed lucky! I hope you enjoyed this. And to be precise, it took an hour to get out the puddle.

[scene_kid]

Ohh soo happy I finally get a lesson on saturday. For pupils it's so easy to get a lesson but for instructors it's so hard to find someone!

[Dolphinlover~]

Do you want any comments on the video? I only have one negative and lots of positive

Whoops, I guess somehow I missed this comment >.< Silly me. Sure I would love comments! If you still remember them, I would love to hear them, especially since I am doing my A show tomorrow, so all comments would be appreciated! Thanks so much scence_kid <33

OOoohhh guess what guys? Yesterday my mom said that she got a call from my old stable saying....That I got bumped up! Yep, that's right I got bumped up! Now I will be riding at 10:30 on Saturdays in a Novice I+ Class that the instructor said is her more advanced Nov I+ class I know the instructor that teaches the class since she teaches the lesson next to mine, and she seems awesome! She challenges her students which I really like. She said that she would be glad to move me into her class~

[Hime]

I really want the spring to come already. It started snowing heavily on Tuesday and continued all night and even bit more on the next day, around 25 cm more snow, nope not kidding.... Then it started to snow again today around 4pm, making the roads horrible. It's been nice and warm(warmer than -10 C, mostly around -5) though, I actually got hot when I finall, got to ride today. Heta was super awsome in the begining, but then at some point she stoped listening the reins. She might have had her tongue over the bit as I had to use one loose-ish noseband. Though it might have been once again about her just getting annoyed/fustrated as I tried to make her do yields again... Worked on softening her until she was nice again. I took some canter last and oh my how she suprised me. First of all she picked it up from fast trot that in most cases would result to pacing and I could actually feel the inner hind going under her and pushing forward when she canteres. Then I could even tell when she got the wrong lead, which she did few times. It was really good feeling as I have always strugled with the leads. I can see them appart from the ground quite often, but not well when I'm riding. Heta has more forward than uphill going canter, and quick on too. But it seems like we are making some progress, very slowly though. Oh and my instructor might ride Heta tomorrow if she has time, but I might not see them as I have work and then my mom is taking our better car to see my granma and I have no clue when she's comming back. And the forecast says it's going to snow some more tomorrow as well, meaning that the roads are horrible...
Some more bad-ish news as well. Recently Heta's best friend was put down. Then after few days she started being really mean to her other paddock buddy, so she was taken inside. Then they tried putting her together with a gelding who she had seemingly gotten along from the other side of the fence. Didn't work either, as soon as they were put in the sama paddock Heta had attacked the poor guy theeth first. So now she's alone in one paddock... I think she has some kind of shock from her friends death as she has never been like that, actually she was on the very bottom in the picking order at her old owner's stable.

[scene_kid]

Do you want any comments on the video? I only have one negative and lots of positive

Whoops, I guess somehow I missed this comment >.< Silly me. Sure I would love comments! If you still remember them, I would love to hear them, especially since I am doing my A show tomorrow, so all comments would be appreciated! Thanks so much scence_kid <33

OOoohhh guess what guys? Yesterday my mom said that she got a call from my old stable saying....That I got bumped up! Yep, that's right I got bumped up! Now I will be riding at 10:30 on Saturdays in a Novice I+ Class that the instructor said is her more advanced Nov I+ class I know the instructor that teaches the class since she teaches the lesson next to mine, and she seems awesome! She challenges her students which I really like. She said that she would be glad to move me into her class~

I remember . You have a lovely jump position with a good steady canter. My only crit is you need to sit up right quicker after the jump and you transition back to trot after the course seemed sloppy. The horse jumps and goes around lovely but you did seem to just get over the last jump and thats it. I dunno the show many just want to see you jump but it will still influence the score especially if your a regular. But I am jealous that you get to compete so regularly. I have no trailer so I need to be buddy with someone who does

[Hanoverian]

Here's for you, Dolphin! ;D

@Dolhpin:

Thanks, it was a lovely lesson. C: My trainer pushes me really hard, and it's really paying off. Oh, she usually does, just not with the stirrup exercise, which I've been doing for several weeks - it is a lot harder for me to maintain the correct leg contact, but my leg wasn't moving at all on Sunday. We have come a long way! Willow has really improved, especially - she had been sitting in a stall doing hardly anything when we got her: Her back was weak, her hind end was weak, everything was weak. Now she has a lot more muscle tone and is pretty balanced. Not perfect yet, but we are getting there!
I'm going to video tape my Wednesday lesson, provided that it doesn't get cancelled... it's snowing now and school was let off. School being off is good, but I hope that I can ride come Wednesday!
Yet another thing I love about my trainers - if you bring a video camera, they will tape parts of your ride for you and watch them with you when you're still in the saddle - then they point out anything that needs improvement and it makes any flaws a lot easier to fix right away. At least for me it does. xD

Didn't you put a video on Judge My Ride or whatever it's called? I'd love to see it! ;D I love watching videos of everyone riding.

Speaking of videos, I found this one really useful - the quality of the tape is bad, but it is pretty informational, at least to me. xD I need analogies for everything so it helps me a lot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ayD4e4iZpw



EDITEDITEDIT: October! This is so weird - I was just on here, and I saw that adorable picture in your signature... then I went to check my email and found a message from my aunt filled with cute horse pictures. xD The very last picture was the same one from your signature. xD Small world.

@Rowdy: I know how you feel! I have some fun ways to spice up your riding routine, though, if you'd like to hear. xD Well, fun things and some of the torture my trainers have me do!
.Take your stirrups off your saddle and connect them together into one giant loop. Put them in front of your saddle so that one strap is in front of the pommel on the saddle pad, and that you sit on the other in the deepest part of the seat. Don't mount this way or else you'll be dumped. xD It really forces you to use your calf, knee, and thigh for support, not your stirrup. Also, if you have any weight distribution problems with your riding, it really brings them out so they can be more easily fixed. After a few weeks of riding like this, you will have the thighs of a god, no joke. XD
.Do lots of suppling exercises to build up that pony's butt! ;D Walking up and down hills - nothing faster than a walk. The walk is hardest for them on incline! Do millions of serpentines, figure eights, and corkscrews.... bend him, get some leg yields, etc.... Work on your extended and collected WTC. The extended shouldn't be out of control and unbalanced, and the collected shouldn't be plodding and lifeless. Ooh! You could do lots of transitions too. (: Halt to canter would be amazing eventually if you don't already have that down.
.Grids. Grids and gymnastics. They may seem scary, but they actually force you and your horse to have the right position/jump correctly. You could make a little baby grid with poles first! Take three poles and lay them out as a bounce to a one stride. After you are comfortable with that, make a small X with the second pole and a larger X with the last one, leaving the first pole flat... |Is pole. so... | x X Eventually you can raise the jumps, but the jumps should always get bigger as the line goes on, or at least stay consistent. Don't start with a big jump and end with a small one. No. My favorite grid goes bounce one stride bounce one stride with 2 foot up to around 2'6, ending with an oxer. xD So... | is vertical now. So... | | | | || FUN!
.If you aren't entirely comfortable with a ton of jumping right now, pole courses are really fun! Start simple and then work your way up to an extreme Jumper course of poles. You can practice your flying changes with this too! Do roll backs, bending lines, etc. with lots of direction changes so you can do your flying changes.
.If you have a field or unused pasture you could set up a little cross country course! Just drag some logs out for a log jump, some straw bales for a straw jump, some potted plants for a plant jump (o.O), a tarp for a ditch, some brush for another jump, some rocks for another, some random stuff on another... xD
.Take your stirrups COMPLETELY off your saddle for a day ;D



You probs already know that but I'm talkative and ramble on a lot. xD I hope that you find SOMETHING in there useful.


@Rain: Peewee sounds like a good choice for now! have fun at your show!

Yeah your lesson did indeed sound very nice :3 That's so great to hear that all of your hard work is paying off! That is always awesome know and hear. I actually think that I have been doing the same, that even though my trainer pushes me hard that all of my hard work is paying off since she is taking me to an A show xD That is awesome about Willow! It's great that you are helping get her muscle back, and it sounds like your doing a lovley job ^^ Ooohh how cool! Yeah I would love to see some video of you and Willow <33

That video was very helpful for me too! Actually my trainer had us do an exercise like that! It was the time I was trying to explain about us holding out hands as far apart as we can while jumping fences. It was exactly like what was in that video, just with 2' verticals She was teaching us how to develop an independent seat, and it was very very helpful.

Yes, yes I did upload a video onto judge my ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crtZx0MU ... plpp_video Sorry I know the quality is terrible, but I had to use my camera and videotape the TV playing it since we don't have a cord to upload it straight from our video camera >.< Also the bleachers were in a really bad place and my dad said it was really hard to videotape. I hope it's fine though It is the most recent video that I have. Enjoy~ 8D

Yup, we are really progressing together, which makes me happy. <3 Good luck ta your A show! Which is this weekend, right?
I'll try and get some tomorrow at my lesson!

I'm a very visual learned, so videos help me too!


You guys look lovely from what I can see. xD It's a pretty hard to see, but you look nice. The only thing I would say is maybe sitting down earlier, and I think you might've counter-cantered a corner. xD But other than that you look FAB!
I watched some of your older videos too, and you have improved a LOT. I mean, a LOT. You were always good, but you look fantastic now!



@English Cowgirl: Did you ever get my last post?