Progress

Saturday I had my lesson. Satchmo was very relaxed as he had gotten a massage earlier that day. So relaxed even that I had to practically drag him out to the ring and I was regretting not wearing spurs. We were walking and trotting in what felt like slow motion the whole hour. But, aside from the slow motion the lesson was great! We worked on my position some more and actually made some progress with my left shoulder and we had some very nice cantering. We did some downward transitions and I still have trouble going from trot to halt or even walk to halt, but it got better.

My favorite part was when we did some extended trotting and I could feel him really reaching and I could hear him kicking his front feet. It was very cool! I gave him a bath and then returned him to Moonie for the rest of the evening.

All in all, a great lesson and Cathy said next week when the saddle is fitted properly we can try jumping again. I'm a little nervous but I think Satchmo has had plenty of time to regroup. We'll soon find out, I'm sure!

First Blog

This is my first blog about Satchmo and me. I wanted to start documenting our progress for his Mom, Donna, and so I can see just how far we've come. Time for a little history. I've been riding Satchmo for about a year now pretty consistently with weekly lessons, pipe openers, and some cross country schooling sessions. We've come a long way from picking up both canter leads and learning how to jump. Recently we've hit a little snag but we are slowly coming out of it. We've been encountering bucking after jumps and problems with cantering (swaping in the back on both leads). This past Saturday (August 16th) I had a great lesson! It was a flat lesson in the ring and we worked on my position (which needs lots of help), some transition work, and thankfully both leads successfully! After the bulk of the lesson we went into the field to trot both directions. I was a little nervous because the last time I was in the field I ended up on the ground and with a huge bruise. Luckily, it was relaxing and nothing happened other than some light trotting. I know Venice and Donna rode him the next day in a Jean Paul clinic, but I did not. My next lesson will be Saturday and hopefully we'll continue to make progress. I am going to try to post some pictures on here..... if I can figure it out.