Last Lesson of 2008

Today I had my last lesson for 2008 with my Mom. Satchmo was muddy but in a good mood :) We worked on the flat for a while and did some walk - trot and walk - canter transitions. It was good :D I'm pretty sure Venice's legs grew, though, because the stirrups seem a little longer than usual. Then we worked over fences and it seems to be working well to just canter right into jumping and sitting back helps, too. I don't think I was sitting back enough so at least that was good.

Last but not least, we jumped 2'6"! That's right, 2'6"! Heck yea! :D Go Satchmo!! I can seriously vision him doing well even higher later in his career! I was so happy! :)

We didn't get any pictures of it, but I have a few witnesses ;) Happy New Year! 2009 is Satchmo's year!

Brrr it's Cold!

Saturday morning I went to the barn to ride Mr. Satchmo. It was pretty cold and windy but I managed to ride for 20 minutes. The ground was frozen, too, and Satchmo being the dainty flower he is did not like that. It took some coaxing from me to let him know that the more we moved the softer the ground would become but he didn't believe me until 2 min until we finished when the ground was actually starting to melt on its own. I worked on some transition stuff and did 1 jump and called it a day. I want to work on flying lead changes but I suck at them so for now I just worked on simple changes across the diagonal and trying to decrease the number of trot strides he takes before picking up the new lead. I figured that should be doing some sort of good. I found it amuzing that every time I asked him to pick up a new lead he swished his tail once. Some how his tail helps lol! Sally was there, too, just finishing up with Moonie who flirted mercelessly over the fence with Smash and Rizzo. Little floozies ;P I put Satch back and went home after that. :)

Thanksgiving Riding

What a weekend of riding! This weekend I took a little road trip with my Mom to Wilson College in PA to visit Monty. It has been 2 years since I donated him to the school and I had the sudden urge to finally see him. We drove up at 10am and finally arrived a little after 11:30am. I found Monty in Barn 2. The whole facility was great. 3 barns 2 indoor rings an outdoor ring and a cross country course! Monty looked just how I'd left him and I was happy he was still nice and fat. I was worried he would be too thin since he was hard to keep weight on - but it seems as if Wilson College knows how to keep him healthy. He gets 8 flakes of hay a day!! Talk about sparing no expense!! I found someone in charge and told them who I was and she told me I could hop on him and do whatever I wanted. It was weird not having any sort of rules but I went with the flow. I tacked Monty up and I could tell he just wasn't the same. He was still sweet and willing, but his spunky personality was definitely toned down. He didn't recognize me like I somehow thought he would and he definitely had a school horse mentality - a little sour. I dragged him to the outdoor ring and got on. He walked, trotted, and cantered wonderfully and was actually more balanced than I ever really got him to be. Then I popped him over some fences and he was like a push button horse! I couldn't believe it! He could find his own spots and was so even paced through the line to get the correct strides!! I could tell he had some fun jumping and I remembered why I had loved him so much. I didn't know what else to do with him so I hopped off after only about 15 minutes and took him back. I felt some better closure with him and that I really had grown out of him. He wouldn't be a challenge for me to ride anymore and we had both changed over the past 2 years. Sad to admit, but I was happy he was teaching little kids how to ride and was such an asset to the program. I left with my Mom and some great pics and a satisfied feeling about Monty's future.

Sunday I went back to Cathy's for a lesson in the rain on Satchmo. Satchmo was really quite good despite the cold icky weather and we even were schooling over 2'3" fences :) Cathy's plan is school him at home no lower than 2'3"-2'6" then we can show him at 2' next spring :) I'm excited! Hope Satchmo is excited, too! LOL!

I guess that's really it for the update over Thanksgiving weekend. :) yay horses!!