So the other day, I decided I should start running. This was about the time I was sitting in my friend's room pretending to study chemistry while actually eating her food. Umm.... Opposite of running. I told her she should run with me (as we wandered around late at night searching for an open Starbucks- the internet had lied to us!) and, shockingly, she agreed. It has become my job to motivate us to get outside to begin running, and her job to keep me from running back to my semi-warm room every time there's a strong blustery wind that makes me cold. Apparently my spiderweb tights do not have windblocking abilities. Who would have thought?
So we started running last week, the same day as the aforementioned Chemistry exam. I think my running is about on par with my exam performance right now... It's rough, to say the least. I've started to hope that everyone else does even worse so the curve is low enough that I do well. Welcome to college.
Anyways, I originally began running back and forth to Bold's paddock. I'll run ahead of him, and he'll trot after me. I think he's letting me win so he gets treats. It still counts though.
I did run 2 miles today though, so maybe I'll legitimately beat him soon? I can always hope.
Anyways- time for bed! Have to get up tomorrow morning and renew my passport!! Then go running. We're running to Chilly Billy's... Somewhat counterproductive maybe....
(Up next- Sheep lab in the Beef Barn? I'll try to take some pictures again....)
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Sunday, March 25, 2012
3/23-3/25 Trails and Jumps!
3/23- Bold and I went out on a trail ride with Melissa and her Morgan Max. We went for about 2 hours and Bold was sweating up a storm... He didn't get that he needed to be relaxed to help with that... Oh well. It was fun, but I could tell Bold wasn't feeling great. He did fine though!
3/24- Since Bold had a tough day on Friday, I took it a bit easy on Saturday. We did some dressage work then ran to the far end of the field and walked back a few times since Bold tends to get a bit barn sour and likes to rush home.
3/25- FABULOUS jump lesson with Jenny. She also had apparel- but I needed a S/XS, so I'll wait for her next order!!! So excited! For jumping- we ended up doing a course- it was oxer around to diagonal vertical, to the bending line (crossrail to vertical) around to the corner.
Bold was fabulous- Jenny and I were both extremely happy- we ended in half the time because everything we jumped went so well, so I took Bold out for a walk around the field. He was pretty good- but had one bolting-spook incident that "popped" my elbow, so I was a bit sore for a while. Ugh horses! I couldn't even be upset with him because he was overall so great. He jumped everything sooooo nicely and even when he was nervous in the field he walked on politely.
Bold has had a few problems with being sore while jumping, but I think the fact that he's fit enough to be doing an appropriate level of work and I'm being very careful with what he's doing and monitoring him carefully, and he's doing extremely well.
3/24- Since Bold had a tough day on Friday, I took it a bit easy on Saturday. We did some dressage work then ran to the far end of the field and walked back a few times since Bold tends to get a bit barn sour and likes to rush home.
3/25- FABULOUS jump lesson with Jenny. She also had apparel- but I needed a S/XS, so I'll wait for her next order!!! So excited! For jumping- we ended up doing a course- it was oxer around to diagonal vertical, to the bending line (crossrail to vertical) around to the corner.
Bold has had a few problems with being sore while jumping, but I think the fact that he's fit enough to be doing an appropriate level of work and I'm being very careful with what he's doing and monitoring him carefully, and he's doing extremely well.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
No Perfect Horse...
While at Otter, I had to remind myself that no horse is perfect, and I actually do need to ride when I'm riding. I got a big reminder of this today as well, when I tried to take Bold out with a couple other horses for the first time this year...
I don't know if it's because he's in better shape now, or if it's because he's been stuck in the arena all winter, but Bold has been quite full of himself when he's around other horses. Even in the arena, if someone passes me too closely, Bold thinks that means we should chase them. Umm no. He's been good lately though, and usually doesn't break from the gait I had him in.
So today, we decided to go outside with a couple of other riders/horses, including Jessi and Kelso. We walked around the small field once, and that was fine. Bold was a little fresh, and wanted to trot ahead, but as long as I kept a loose rein, he stayed fairly relaxed in the trot.
Then we decided to trot. Bold loved the idea. He did O.K. for the first 3/4 lap, then he thought we were racing Kelso. Umm what gave you that idea Bold? So he tried to canter, and Kelso thought it was also a good idea- I brought Bold back into the trot and Jessi got Kelso into a trot-speed canter.... Close enough. Kelso was pretty good overall, but definitely had some spring freshness. Bold was just certain everything was a race... he got more "amp-y" when I tried to hold him back, and was more relaxed but still broke to the canter on a looser rein. We haven't found a happy medium quite yet...
BUT, while I was definitely tense, I could bring Bold into a small circle and have him slow down. He wasn't happy, but he did it. Which made me feel like I can deal with whatever he was going to do. After making him walk for a minute while the other horses trotted a bit, we headed back to the barn. Bold thought we should trot back. Sideways. Umm, probably not my first plan.
We made it back to the barn without anything crazy happening, and I rode Bold for a few minutes in the indoor. It was so warm that I couldn't do much because he got SO sweaty. Oh well.
While we were outside, I was working on not pushing so much against the stirrup with my lower leg. Lena pointed this out to me, and told me that it was a way of bracing against the horse, which obviously isn't going to help with being less tense!
I don't know if it's because he's in better shape now, or if it's because he's been stuck in the arena all winter, but Bold has been quite full of himself when he's around other horses. Even in the arena, if someone passes me too closely, Bold thinks that means we should chase them. Umm no. He's been good lately though, and usually doesn't break from the gait I had him in.
So today, we decided to go outside with a couple of other riders/horses, including Jessi and Kelso. We walked around the small field once, and that was fine. Bold was a little fresh, and wanted to trot ahead, but as long as I kept a loose rein, he stayed fairly relaxed in the trot.
Then we decided to trot. Bold loved the idea. He did O.K. for the first 3/4 lap, then he thought we were racing Kelso. Umm what gave you that idea Bold? So he tried to canter, and Kelso thought it was also a good idea- I brought Bold back into the trot and Jessi got Kelso into a trot-speed canter.... Close enough. Kelso was pretty good overall, but definitely had some spring freshness. Bold was just certain everything was a race... he got more "amp-y" when I tried to hold him back, and was more relaxed but still broke to the canter on a looser rein. We haven't found a happy medium quite yet...
BUT, while I was definitely tense, I could bring Bold into a small circle and have him slow down. He wasn't happy, but he did it. Which made me feel like I can deal with whatever he was going to do. After making him walk for a minute while the other horses trotted a bit, we headed back to the barn. Bold thought we should trot back. Sideways. Umm, probably not my first plan.
We made it back to the barn without anything crazy happening, and I rode Bold for a few minutes in the indoor. It was so warm that I couldn't do much because he got SO sweaty. Oh well.
While we were outside, I was working on not pushing so much against the stirrup with my lower leg. Lena pointed this out to me, and told me that it was a way of bracing against the horse, which obviously isn't going to help with being less tense!
Maybe I should spend more time riding and less time decorating my horsey...
Spring Break Riding Fun
I'll add pictures when I can! :)
So, instead of going somewhere warm and lovely for spring break, I hopped over to Wisconsin and decided to spend a week at Otter Creek Farm. I had a very nice jumping lesson on Bold on Sunday before I left with Jenny- we worked on not "jumping ahead", I have a tendency to try to start jumping the jumps before Bold actually leaves the ground...Which does NOT keep me out of his way! Jenny had me jump with my eyes closed so I couldn't anticipate the jump. So glad I have such a trustworthy horse to ride!!
Anyways, we got out to Otter fairly late on Sunday- I watched Jenny teach all day, and by the time we got there, I was ready for sleep! Carly was also out for the week, which was super fun.
Monday
Carly was going to be doing twice a day rides with her mare to get over a rough patch, so first thing in the morning, I watched her lesson. It was pretty fun to watch- they had a bunch of poles randomly thrown around on the ground, and Carly rode over them in different patterns, turning sharply to keep her mare focused and slow, weaving between the poles, and all sorts of crazy things! Carly was riding really well, and her mare loves to jump, so it helped her focus and kept her happy with the work.
Emily, the working student out at Otter, had spring break this week as well, so the three of us were out there together, plotting away! Emily and I rode together on Monday, and (I think) we ended up riding up and down the long driveway towards the house and cross country fields before and after the ride. I rode Moe, who, as always, was a total rockstar. We worked on shoulder in to haunches-in, then getting three changes on the diagonal. SO much work! Moe likes to rush off after he changes one direction(I think right to left leads), so I really had to keep it together! It was fun though!
Tuesday
Tuesday was a busy day- there were lessons, and the vet came out. Someone else was riding Moe, so I rode Jenny's mom's dressage horse Ymer. Ymer is a sweetheart with amazing training, and is a complete blast to ride. He knows everything, but still makes me work just a little bit for it. Jenny was busy, so her mom was helping me with Ymer. We did some trot work- shoulder-in and haunches-in, which I'm finally maybe sorta kinda getting the hang of! Lena (Jenny's mom) fixed my leg position a bit, and then told me instead of using constant pressure for leg-yielding etc, to just kick once or twice and then let him be. Oh, well that's a lot less work. So then we moved into some canter work... Apparently on high level horses, if they're fairly straight and you put your leg on, they switch leads instead of move over. Ooopsy. I did get some nice changes though! Once Lena told me to bend Ymer a lot more to get the canter moving laterally, we got some nice half-pass. I think. Anyways- the ride was a bit shorter since Ymer needed to get his vet work done, but I still learned a lot!
Later that night, we free-jumped some of the horses. It's really fun to see the horses that love to jump just playing with it!
We all went out for dinner that night, and Emily slept over- although it's a little less exciting sleepover when almost nobody makes it through even one movie! We all were tired! Still, it was very fun.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning, Carly jumped her mare. She rode really well- her horse was a bit wary of the bigger jumps at first, after having some time off jumping, but Carly stuck with her and got her through everything after a few tries! She had one jump where the mare got "wiggly" before the jump, and Carly got her over the jump beautifully. They both seemed to gain confidence then, and seemed to be working together really well.
The vet came out to float the last training horse's teeth, and I helped pull her mane while she was drugged. I watched the vet as well as I could, then she offered to let me try out the power-floater she was using. She handed it to me, and I did one of the front teeth. So cool to get that experience!
We took the horses out for a trail ride that day- Moe loved it, and thought we should run the entire time... Umm hello Moe, we are with a group, and you're kinda out of shape, and you are an unclipped black horse on the first hot day. What part of that says run around like crazy? Anyways, it was fun, and Carly and I got the chance to ride one of the training horses who is for sale that day. He's a really sweet horse, but a bit sensitive. I took him out for a walk outside after, his first time out for the year. It was uneventful, and we figured that if I (the biggest chicken ever) feels comfortable taking him out, he's probably pretty good.
We swept out the concrete show barn to help get it ready for Lena and Mark to put the new mats in! I think they got most of them in, and Lena asked if I would ride Ymer again, since she was tired from moving the mats. Absolutely I would! Carly rode Palladin- one of the younger dressage horses, and we had fun riding together. I did some flying lead changes again- I managed to start getting five on the diagonal! Woohoo!
Carly and I clipped Moe that night- full body, and he looked quite dashing with a "M" on one hind leg and a "shooting heart" on the other. Or so WE thought!!
Thursday
Thursday was our last day there, and I rode Moe outside with Emily in the morning while Carly had a jump lesson. We ended up playing in the water jump, and Moe and I wandered around the cross country course a bit, looking at the jumps. Great end to the week! We put the horses away, and then Carly learned how to back the truck up to hook it up to the trailer. Jenny asked me if I wanted to drive back and learn to pull the trailer... I wasn't sure at first, but I did it! I drove the entire way back, and it went great! I did well with stopping smoothly, and even avoided hitting deer- always a plus. Carly said I could trailer her horse to shows for her, so I guess she thought it went pretty well too :)
We got home, and I decided to ride Bold. I had a really nice ride, and decided to take him out to walk around the field. Well, walking around was boring, so I decided to trot. And THAT went so well, I just HAD to canter. He didn't peek at anything, and even got a bit lazy in the canter- just the feel I like! That's about as brave as I get, so I was pretty proud, and very happy with Bold.
Friday
I decided Bold deserved a day off, so I rode a couple of my friends' horses while they're gone for the week. The horses are both thoroughbred-draft crosses, and just some of the nicest horses to be found. They're half siblings, and have SUPER solid minds, and are pretty athletic as well. I lucked out on getting to ride them, and, while they're both somewhat green(started less than a year ago), I had nice rides on both.
So, instead of going somewhere warm and lovely for spring break, I hopped over to Wisconsin and decided to spend a week at Otter Creek Farm. I had a very nice jumping lesson on Bold on Sunday before I left with Jenny- we worked on not "jumping ahead", I have a tendency to try to start jumping the jumps before Bold actually leaves the ground...Which does NOT keep me out of his way! Jenny had me jump with my eyes closed so I couldn't anticipate the jump. So glad I have such a trustworthy horse to ride!!
Anyways, we got out to Otter fairly late on Sunday- I watched Jenny teach all day, and by the time we got there, I was ready for sleep! Carly was also out for the week, which was super fun.
Monday
Carly was going to be doing twice a day rides with her mare to get over a rough patch, so first thing in the morning, I watched her lesson. It was pretty fun to watch- they had a bunch of poles randomly thrown around on the ground, and Carly rode over them in different patterns, turning sharply to keep her mare focused and slow, weaving between the poles, and all sorts of crazy things! Carly was riding really well, and her mare loves to jump, so it helped her focus and kept her happy with the work.
Emily, the working student out at Otter, had spring break this week as well, so the three of us were out there together, plotting away! Emily and I rode together on Monday, and (I think) we ended up riding up and down the long driveway towards the house and cross country fields before and after the ride. I rode Moe, who, as always, was a total rockstar. We worked on shoulder in to haunches-in, then getting three changes on the diagonal. SO much work! Moe likes to rush off after he changes one direction(I think right to left leads), so I really had to keep it together! It was fun though!
Tuesday
Tuesday was a busy day- there were lessons, and the vet came out. Someone else was riding Moe, so I rode Jenny's mom's dressage horse Ymer. Ymer is a sweetheart with amazing training, and is a complete blast to ride. He knows everything, but still makes me work just a little bit for it. Jenny was busy, so her mom was helping me with Ymer. We did some trot work- shoulder-in and haunches-in, which I'm finally maybe sorta kinda getting the hang of! Lena (Jenny's mom) fixed my leg position a bit, and then told me instead of using constant pressure for leg-yielding etc, to just kick once or twice and then let him be. Oh, well that's a lot less work. So then we moved into some canter work... Apparently on high level horses, if they're fairly straight and you put your leg on, they switch leads instead of move over. Ooopsy. I did get some nice changes though! Once Lena told me to bend Ymer a lot more to get the canter moving laterally, we got some nice half-pass. I think. Anyways- the ride was a bit shorter since Ymer needed to get his vet work done, but I still learned a lot!
Later that night, we free-jumped some of the horses. It's really fun to see the horses that love to jump just playing with it!
We all went out for dinner that night, and Emily slept over- although it's a little less exciting sleepover when almost nobody makes it through even one movie! We all were tired! Still, it was very fun.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning, Carly jumped her mare. She rode really well- her horse was a bit wary of the bigger jumps at first, after having some time off jumping, but Carly stuck with her and got her through everything after a few tries! She had one jump where the mare got "wiggly" before the jump, and Carly got her over the jump beautifully. They both seemed to gain confidence then, and seemed to be working together really well.
The vet came out to float the last training horse's teeth, and I helped pull her mane while she was drugged. I watched the vet as well as I could, then she offered to let me try out the power-floater she was using. She handed it to me, and I did one of the front teeth. So cool to get that experience!
We took the horses out for a trail ride that day- Moe loved it, and thought we should run the entire time... Umm hello Moe, we are with a group, and you're kinda out of shape, and you are an unclipped black horse on the first hot day. What part of that says run around like crazy? Anyways, it was fun, and Carly and I got the chance to ride one of the training horses who is for sale that day. He's a really sweet horse, but a bit sensitive. I took him out for a walk outside after, his first time out for the year. It was uneventful, and we figured that if I (the biggest chicken ever) feels comfortable taking him out, he's probably pretty good.
We swept out the concrete show barn to help get it ready for Lena and Mark to put the new mats in! I think they got most of them in, and Lena asked if I would ride Ymer again, since she was tired from moving the mats. Absolutely I would! Carly rode Palladin- one of the younger dressage horses, and we had fun riding together. I did some flying lead changes again- I managed to start getting five on the diagonal! Woohoo!
Carly and I clipped Moe that night- full body, and he looked quite dashing with a "M" on one hind leg and a "shooting heart" on the other. Or so WE thought!!
Thursday
Thursday was our last day there, and I rode Moe outside with Emily in the morning while Carly had a jump lesson. We ended up playing in the water jump, and Moe and I wandered around the cross country course a bit, looking at the jumps. Great end to the week! We put the horses away, and then Carly learned how to back the truck up to hook it up to the trailer. Jenny asked me if I wanted to drive back and learn to pull the trailer... I wasn't sure at first, but I did it! I drove the entire way back, and it went great! I did well with stopping smoothly, and even avoided hitting deer- always a plus. Carly said I could trailer her horse to shows for her, so I guess she thought it went pretty well too :)
We got home, and I decided to ride Bold. I had a really nice ride, and decided to take him out to walk around the field. Well, walking around was boring, so I decided to trot. And THAT went so well, I just HAD to canter. He didn't peek at anything, and even got a bit lazy in the canter- just the feel I like! That's about as brave as I get, so I was pretty proud, and very happy with Bold.
Friday
I decided Bold deserved a day off, so I rode a couple of my friends' horses while they're gone for the week. The horses are both thoroughbred-draft crosses, and just some of the nicest horses to be found. They're half siblings, and have SUPER solid minds, and are pretty athletic as well. I lucked out on getting to ride them, and, while they're both somewhat green(started less than a year ago), I had nice rides on both.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Stop Doing Circles! And other exciting things
Back at school- wrapping up the week before Spring break! Finished my midterms for the week on Wednesday, and then headed out to the equine center at the University to ride for a bit- while the equine center is primarily a veterinary hospital, they do keep a few horses for the animal science, vet students, and other miscellaneous purposes. So I'll go out when I have time and lesson with the trainer out there once in a while, or just ride "P". P is a gelding, and he's not green in the sense that he's been under saddle for quite a while, but he is pretty green in the connection, and he really struggles with that. Plus, he's pretty smart, and knows which way the door is, so he can not only try to head to that end of the arena, but he tricks me into tensing against him. Funny story guys- I'm not physically stronger than a horse.
Anyways, I went out Wednesday and rode with the trainer and another lady who organizes things out there, and they're trotting around on their mares with pretty frames, while P and I are in some sort of trot-halt-neck-twisting limbo... well that's awkward. So P and I are trying to get into some work, and I keep getting stuck on a 20 meter circle, trying to get it "good enough" so I can move on to something else. Oh lordy, getting a little over focused.
By this time, the trainer had basically finished her ride and was watching me, and told me to go down the long side, and try for a medium trot, then on the next long side, do a ten meter circle halfway down. Basically, she wanted me to GET OFF OF THE CIRCLE and actually DO something. I get so focused on making a perfect circle with a perfect horse, that I get tense and it ends up being counter-productive. Oopsies.
So, new goal, along with going forward more- get away from circles! I really like circles. Like, all of the time. Seriously, whenever I feel insecure while I'm riding, I do a circle to figure out what's going on. Which isn't all bad, but sometimes you just have to ride in a straight line... Or so they tell me.
In Other News
I got a couple of exciting emails this week-
1. I was accepted to a missions trip to Nicaragua this summer. I'm going with my mom and brother, and a group from my church. The actual mission is through ORPHANetwork, and we're working with an orphanage there for a week at the beginning of August! Super exciting, and I'm looking forward to going. I'll be setting up a trip sponsorship type site, if you're interested in helping me out that way- Otherwise just praying and hoping that everything works out for me is appreciated SO MUCH :)
This will be my second mission trip like this- the last time I went down to Reynosa Mexico, where we were partnered with a church.
2. I've been working on getting an internship for the summer, and I started emailing everyone I could find emails for at a racetrack/casino, and got some directions on who to contact, and found someone who was SUPER helpful, and forwarded my email and followed up with me. Just really helped me out and made sure I got to the right people. Anyways, she ended up giving me some veterinarians' contact information, and once I emailed them, I found a practice that seemed genuinely excited for me to follow them around this summer!! So I've got my internship for this year, and even made sure it would work to get credits. Yay!
ALSO if there is anything in particular I should go into more detail about, or anything that isn't super clear, or you just feel like commenting- please comment! :)
Now it's time for me to bag up my dirty clothes and get ready for spring break!!
Anyways, I went out Wednesday and rode with the trainer and another lady who organizes things out there, and they're trotting around on their mares with pretty frames, while P and I are in some sort of trot-halt-neck-twisting limbo... well that's awkward. So P and I are trying to get into some work, and I keep getting stuck on a 20 meter circle, trying to get it "good enough" so I can move on to something else. Oh lordy, getting a little over focused.
By this time, the trainer had basically finished her ride and was watching me, and told me to go down the long side, and try for a medium trot, then on the next long side, do a ten meter circle halfway down. Basically, she wanted me to GET OFF OF THE CIRCLE and actually DO something. I get so focused on making a perfect circle with a perfect horse, that I get tense and it ends up being counter-productive. Oopsies.
So, new goal, along with going forward more- get away from circles! I really like circles. Like, all of the time. Seriously, whenever I feel insecure while I'm riding, I do a circle to figure out what's going on. Which isn't all bad, but sometimes you just have to ride in a straight line... Or so they tell me.
Just Bold being cute... breaking up a long blog
In Other News
I got a couple of exciting emails this week-
1. I was accepted to a missions trip to Nicaragua this summer. I'm going with my mom and brother, and a group from my church. The actual mission is through ORPHANetwork, and we're working with an orphanage there for a week at the beginning of August! Super exciting, and I'm looking forward to going. I'll be setting up a trip sponsorship type site, if you're interested in helping me out that way- Otherwise just praying and hoping that everything works out for me is appreciated SO MUCH :)
This will be my second mission trip like this- the last time I went down to Reynosa Mexico, where we were partnered with a church.
2. I've been working on getting an internship for the summer, and I started emailing everyone I could find emails for at a racetrack/casino, and got some directions on who to contact, and found someone who was SUPER helpful, and forwarded my email and followed up with me. Just really helped me out and made sure I got to the right people. Anyways, she ended up giving me some veterinarians' contact information, and once I emailed them, I found a practice that seemed genuinely excited for me to follow them around this summer!! So I've got my internship for this year, and even made sure it would work to get credits. Yay!
ALSO if there is anything in particular I should go into more detail about, or anything that isn't super clear, or you just feel like commenting- please comment! :)
Now it's time for me to bag up my dirty clothes and get ready for spring break!!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Riderideride, studystudystudy!
Okay, so this is the rewrite, because my first try was pretty jumbled...
So Friday, I was out riding, and a younger rider at Bold's barn, a very nice and quite talented dressage rider who also rides with my trainer and has a superstar sassy pony, was out, so I asked her to help me with Bold. We ended up trading horses, and while watching her, I told her "That's what I want him to look like when I ride!!" so she helped me figure out how to get a little closer-
She worked on getting him to accept the connection better, by asking him to give (more with my outside rein) then releasing. Alright, I know I've heard this before, but it's like I just CAN'T REMEMBER! I know that I definitely have a tendency to just hang onto the horses mouths, which they don't usually like and really doesn't help with connection issues... Oopsy.
Anyways, so more explanations of the same idea, and totally 100% correct. Also, her pony was fun to sit on :)
I think right now, having someone standing there making sure I'm releasing helps a lot.
Saturday we started to work on the same stuff until....... dun-duh-duh-DUNH....
... I jumped! We started off at crossrails and I eventually put it up to a small vertical, and obviously Bold was fine- he tried to get lazy and would hit rails just enough so they didn't fall, but still, not something I want him to start. As long as I kept him working he was good, and I'm planning to jump again soon! Maybe not in a dressage saddle next time though. I was working on making sure I release over the jump.
Newest(slash re-newing) exercise/explanation/reminder to self-
Jockey Stirrups- flip stirrups over saddle, lift your feet back in, and trot around in a two point type position (you'll need a dressage whip on most horses) until you fall on your butt. seriously. It helps with quads(and I think glutes, otherwise I've been doing this wrong again) but you need a trustworthy horse!! Laurie and Dori suggested this- Dori says to just roll your stirrups, but Laurie said to flip them. And both of them said they would jump in that length when they did it. (I'm not there yet, suprise)
Sunday- no riding! I worked the morning shift and decided I needed to study for my exam tomorrow, so I took a dinner shift as well, and just studied between and after. Microbiology is tough! Hopefully my sectioned, color-coded flashcards help ;)
So Friday, I was out riding, and a younger rider at Bold's barn, a very nice and quite talented dressage rider who also rides with my trainer and has a superstar sassy pony, was out, so I asked her to help me with Bold. We ended up trading horses, and while watching her, I told her "That's what I want him to look like when I ride!!" so she helped me figure out how to get a little closer-
She worked on getting him to accept the connection better, by asking him to give (more with my outside rein) then releasing. Alright, I know I've heard this before, but it's like I just CAN'T REMEMBER! I know that I definitely have a tendency to just hang onto the horses mouths, which they don't usually like and really doesn't help with connection issues... Oopsy.
Anyways, so more explanations of the same idea, and totally 100% correct. Also, her pony was fun to sit on :)
I think right now, having someone standing there making sure I'm releasing helps a lot.
Saturday we started to work on the same stuff until....... dun-duh-duh-DUNH....
... I jumped! We started off at crossrails and I eventually put it up to a small vertical, and obviously Bold was fine- he tried to get lazy and would hit rails just enough so they didn't fall, but still, not something I want him to start. As long as I kept him working he was good, and I'm planning to jump again soon! Maybe not in a dressage saddle next time though. I was working on making sure I release over the jump.
Newest(slash re-newing) exercise/explanation/reminder to self-
Jockey Stirrups- flip stirrups over saddle, lift your feet back in, and trot around in a two point type position (you'll need a dressage whip on most horses) until you fall on your butt. seriously. It helps with quads(and I think glutes, otherwise I've been doing this wrong again) but you need a trustworthy horse!! Laurie and Dori suggested this- Dori says to just roll your stirrups, but Laurie said to flip them. And both of them said they would jump in that length when they did it. (I'm not there yet, suprise)
Sunday- no riding! I worked the morning shift and decided I needed to study for my exam tomorrow, so I took a dinner shift as well, and just studied between and after. Microbiology is tough! Hopefully my sectioned, color-coded flashcards help ;)
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Visiting the Dairy Barns...
This morning, I had an Animal Science lab in the Dairy Barn... I even took pictures for proof! We didn't actually do much (I'm sure that's coming soon though...) but we did look around and judge a few cows on conformation, and worked on ID'ing different dairy cow tools and looking at mastitis milk tests... Here's some pics! I had more, but, shockingly, cows are not extremely photogenic...
Okay, that's all the cow pictures! Hopefully back to horses soon....
We talked about why some of these cows look thin (this pic doesn't show it perfectly) Apparently it's because most of their energy goes to milk production.
These were the first time pregnant moms.
Our professor discussing conformation...
If you look near the back of the barrel on this cow, you can see that circular disc thing? That opens up so you can reach into the cows rumen and harvest rumen fluid. It's pretty cool- The cow can do whatever, have babies, produce milk, etc.
Okay, that's all the cow pictures! Hopefully back to horses soon....
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