31.10.10

Halloween Jumper Group

Wow. That was so much fun, I just want to go back and do it all over again.

Kip and I attended the first Jump Group this fall, our first ever. Kip was just amazing.

I was prepared for him to be more focused on the other horses in the arena, and generally mischievous to begin with -- but right away, he settled in to work. He listened to me very well the entire day.

There were horse and rider combinations, all in the indoor - so it was crowded. The highlight of the whole thing to me was we jumped a course of eleven jumps. And he did it willingly and with very little "green horse looky-loo-ism" (there's a term for 'ya) . There were many kinds of jumps he'd never seen before, and sometimes on the first pass, he'd be crooked, but he learned so fast that usually the second time around, he was jumping it like an old pro. Many people commented on how great he is doing, and how cute he is. He is really cute.

As a bonus, Heidi asked me to go to a dressage schooling show with her next saturday. We are so ready. I am once again expecing him to shy at everything. Then if he doesn't I will be pleasantly surprised.

28.10.10

Wednesday was a rough lesson.

First, I had not ridden in a week, due to crush. Kip was totally scattered, blasting through my leg, trotting like a sewing machine, rooting, running me into walls and generally doing his best to ignore me. I admit I did let myself get frustrated. It did not help that Anne was having a frustrating day too, and really laid in to me about Smartpaks. It is a long and boring story, not worth going in to here, except to say that she harangued a little too long, well after I got the point -- NO SMARTPAKS. Alright already.

We decided to work in the indoor because Kip was being such a twerp. We had to get him listening. To improve the canter-trot transition, I need to ask on a turn -- a very definite turn, not a drift. He is still rough, but by the end of the evening, improving.

We also had 2 cavaleti 9' apart, at X -- Canter at B, turn at A (Look early!! look at P!) steady the canter, support with the outside leg, bring both hands to the right; canter the cavaletti, opening rein to the right to land on the right lead, turn to M, repeat.

He rushes this exercise so by the time we are over the second cavaleti, he's going Mach 5 into the turn. I need to sit up, NOT lean forward, and let him find his feet. He'll figure out it is easier if he goes more slowly.

Anyway this is the homework for the week.

And Jumper Group is Sunday -- So excited! squeek!

25.10.10

Post Crush weekend weigh-in


This was Crush weekend and I told myself I could eat what ever I felt like eating. I did not want to make this about any thing other than enjoying this experience.

Thing was, that I did not want very much. My first meal on the road with the "new rules" in effect, I ate an entire garden burger. It was really mediocre at best, but I scarfed it down anyway. At least I ordered the side salad with it, and ate all of that too. I also had 10 sweet potato fries from Scott's plate. I was miserable for the rest of the day afterwards. I think I learned my lesson.

At the Hightowers, I still had plenty of cheese and potatoes and gnocci and cookies and, well WINE (so good), but did not over-eat again.

We worked really hard this weekend, processing a record amount of tonnage (I can't remember the actual amount, of course). So I was very active from 10 am until 9:00pm. That burned some calories, lemmie tell you. I also tore the crap out of my fingers - that has never happened before, and is no fun. Next year I will have to take precautions.

On the drive home we took HWY 410, and it snowed. It was very pretty, and a fun adventure. We had to put the chains on for about ten miles, but that went pretty easily and we made it just fine.

So the upshot of all of this is, I gained .4 pounds. My total so far is 14.4 pounds.