A Little Break...

I decided to forgo the lesson last night to spend some time with B and have a night "off". We still turned Henry and Louie out and blanketed them but the time at the barn was an hour not three :)

Thanks Kat for the pic :)

Tonight my goal is to lunge Henry if the weather holds and if B will cooperate :) Let him blow off a little steam since we have a lesson tomorrow.

Lesson Thursday, trainer ride Friday, turn out Saturday and lesson Sunday.

Starting off the week right...

First I watched the HITS Thermal AIG $1 Million GP live and it was awesome! Meredith Michaels won and what an amazing, beautiful and awesome horse Bella Donna is!!

Hubby asked if I wanted to do stuff "like that" one day- cause he watched some of the GP with me.. I laughed and asked if he was going to win the lottery ... He said "oh good, I'm glad you are realistic about money" ... haha one day maybe I'll be able to go watch :)

Monday I hacked. It was short as I was really missing B and wanted to get home to her.

I tacked up, lunged and got on. Henry was good overall and I just went through the paces- nothing fancy- just wtc and a good basic but solid hack.

Cooled him out, untacked, groomed, cleaned my tack, let him graze while I filled his water, grained him, blanketed him and gave kisses.

Lesson tonight (I am really missing B again today, so contemplating bowing out), off tomorrow, lesson Thursday, trainer ride Friday and  going to watch my BFF show Saturday.

Corned Beef!!

Corned beef, carrots, potatoes and cabbage is a cookin!

Friday Henry got turned out and a much deserved day off!

B and I went out to dinner with some friends

Saturday was group lesson day, only 4 of us- nice small group.

The fog was crazy on my way to the barn

Groomed, lunged and got on. Hacked around with the group, Henry felt really really good.

We move onto jumping...

Warmed up over 1 making a right or left turn after going through the ground polls.

Then we did 1 to 2, around to 3 and over the ground poll on the right, then over 1 to 4. Henry was really good! We had jumped a lot this week so after we did that a few times my trainer said that was enough for him and Erica and I went for a walk to cool out.

The weather was awesome! I gave Henry a vetrolyn liniment hose down and then lots of grazing :)

Sunday was turn out day .. at home we are starting off the week right with a delishious meal in a little bit :)

Monday hack, Tuesday lesson, Wednesday off, Thursday lesson, Friday trainer ride and Saturday idk...

Thirsty Thursday...

oh wait no drinking on a work night. Actually I like never drink haha!

Escape Artist - this is why I have the chain...

Thursday I had my weekly torture session I mean lesson. I always like my Thursday lesson a lot AFTER the lesson. This is a private lesson and my trainer pushes me a lot more then she does the other times in the week.

I had lots of time to groom, pet/give kisses and dress up Henry :)

Lunged and got on- got a text from my trainer that she was running late so I warmed up on my own and was ready to head down to jump when she arrived.

We went down to the big arena and I cantered around a bit more and through the jumps then we got down to work.

What we jumped:
- vertical
- one stride line (verticals)
- in and out/bounce (x to a vertical)
- 3 stride line (vertical to an oxer with a wall in the middle)

Warmed up over the vertical back and forth.

Then did the one stride a couple times then did the one stride, short turn to the vertical to the bounce to the 3 stride. Did this a couple times and then we went to the 3 stride and getting that right.

Henry gets the strides no problem, most of the time I even have to whoa in the line and then I really really have to whoa after the jump, he isn't being bad but he gets going. So we worked on pace to the first fence and then whoa in the middle with a half halt and then lots of whoa after the jump. We did the line both ways and off both leads.

Another lesson where I can say I love my horse- he was such a good boy even when I couldn't see a distance to save my life :)

I bathed home boy after we took a nice long walk around the property to cool out. A clean horse is my FAV! Let him eat some grass while I cleaned his stall and filled his water.

I am on Louie duty cause his mom is gone so I blanketed both horses, love their matchy matchy ness :) Gave kisses and headed out.

Turn out today (Friday) and a lesson tomorrow.

Is it March or May?! (updated with a video)

Loving this warm weather!!!

Wish I lived here!

Monday I was told Henry was a rock start, really really good. Here is a video my trainer sent me.

Tuesday I had a lesson. I got to the barn early and groomed the life out of Henry :) Tacked up, lunged and got on. I had a nice 30 min hack on my own.. then E and L came in and we headed down to the outside arena. We hacked around around again with the group.

Then onto jumping... warmed up over a baby vertical back and forth.

Then I war instructed to do a line. It was 4 jumps, 1 stride between each. Henry was awesome! We went back and forth over it a few times and it felt great.

Then we working on the beloved wedge. He was good, my eye was off and I kept getting long distances.. got a few good spots and then called it a night.

Seriously LOVE my horse! :)

Wednesday - just got a text and was told he was really really good.

Yeah Henry!!!

Thursday lesson, Friday off (and hopefully the chiro will be out) and Saturday lesson. Henry has a hard week this week but last week was light so we are making up some lessons.

Saturday, Sunday... and the loss of an hour

Saturday aka group lesson day... The Hawley clinic was going on outside so we rode inside.

Groomed and tacked up Henry... 

At one point he had both back feet in the bucket but i wasn't quick enough to get a picture.. such a random horse! He carefully pulled them out of the bucket when we left the cross ties.

Flatted as a group... we started the lesson off with a long 2 point at the walk, sounds pathetic but my legs were burning. Though I am convinced from what I saw that Erica and I were the only two who did it the whole time out of the 5 of us who were out there.

Onto jumping- we did 1 back and forth as a group. Then the group did 1 to 2 to 3.. then I added to the course for myself... 1 to 2 to 3 to 1 to 4 bending line to 3. Henry and I did that twice and he was awesome so my trainer said to end on that.

             

Erica and I went for a short walk and then I groomed and put him away.

Came back up to the barn and cleaned all my tack.

Made sure I picked up all my stuff and headed home to get ready to drive to Clovis with my hubby and daughter for my bff's daughters bday party.

Sunday was Henry's off day and he got turned out to enjoy the awesome weather!

I love the longer days but hate the loss of sleep!

Monday is a trainer ride since they didn't ride him Friday, Tuesday is my lesson, Wednesday is the weekly trainer ride, Thursday is my lesson, Friday is his day off and Saturday idk...

A set schedule

Thursday I had my lesson...

This is what we jumped

We started out flatting around with some lead changes sprinkled in. The moved onto jumping.

Started with the "normal vertical" back and forth a bit.

I forgot to add the wedge in the picture but we did that too after the warm up vertical.

Then moved onto the vertical to the oxer one stride a few times and that went awesome. Then we added in a right hand turn after the oxer around the airy vetical with the polls in front of it. I was intimidated by it at first but when we jumped it it was no big deal :) Thankful that my trainer pushes me!

Then we did the one stride to three strides to the bounce. The one stride is forward so the first time that I did the bounce I was going to fast and it was um interesting- Henry did awesome but then I came back around and we remembered to have a good pace to the one stride then WHOA three strides to bounce.

It was a great lesson, cooled him out and put him away.

Friday was supposed to be a trainer ride but the WS canceled at the last min... yeah not to happy about that.

I am not sure about tomorrow as the Hawley clinic is going on but i'll prob hack no matter what :)

Good Bye Warm Weather

The cold is rolling in... ok I know it's nothing compared to what some of you have been enduring :)

Grabbed Henry, groomed, tacked and lunged before I got on. He had two days off so I wnated to make sure that all his wiggles were out. He wasn't really that wild but I did make him burn off some steam.

It was just Erica and myself in the lesson and I love riding with her!

We kinda flatted on our own with a few comments here and there from our trainer. Then moved onto jumping.

Warmed up over and X and and forth alternating the turn left or right after. Then we added in another X.. doing both X's both ways. Then added in a line... Henry's fav lattice panels. It was an open 3 stride or slower 4 stride. My horse has a good stride and man that 3 felt very forward and fast but it was great for us to do the 3 and then come back to the 4 and then the 3 again.. you get the picture. We did that line both directions.

Good lesson over all.. didn't jump anything massive but working on the "finer" things haha!

Erica on Blue and Me on Henry

We walked a bunch and cooled them boys out.. un tacked, groomed him really well, loved on him, gave treats, wiped down my bridle, made grain, blanketed and took him home.

Came back and cleaned up all the jumps and headed home.

Off today, lesson tomorrow, trainer ride Fri and idk about Sat at the Hawley clinic is going on.

Question: Have any of you BoT users found that the pad makes your horse uncomfortable? Henry has felt a little funny lately when riding and the only thing that I can think of is the pad is to hot or making him uncomfortable I feel like I have ruled out everything else that I can (i am having the chiro come out just in case). I am going to ride without it and see... his back was REALLY warm where the saddle sits when I un tacked him last night.

The Good and The Bad and The Ugly

The blanket arrived!

Friday- Trainer ride. He was good.. they even jumped this BIG wedge. 

Saturday was a crazy day- Lesson and tending to all the Henry chores in the morning, rush home to take a shower and get ready for a baby shower, go to the baby shower which lasted 3 hours (well went longer but I left after 3 hours), dinner with friends and then I got sick...

So back to the lesson... as I was on my way to get Henry I watched two horses kinda not getting along and then one of them kick the crap out of the fence, kinda getting stuck and then getting free and taking the whole fence down- I started running to help but then noticed that one of the guys was running too and he said he didn't need help... I made sure he was really ok and then continued on to get Henry.

Got Henry, groomed, lunged and headed down to the big arena. There were 7 of us so a decent size lesson. Henry felt a little funny- we think his back in a little sore from jumping so much Friday.

We went through the paces... and jumped the same course that I jumped Thursday but the jumps weren't as high- which is ok since he was a little back sore.

Cooled him out and went for a walk up to our old barn with Erica.. there was a loose dog up there so we didn't venture far past the barn.

Waited my turn in line to give him a bath- everyone had the same idea that I did lol.

Let Henry graze while I cleaned his stall and filled his water

All clean! Proud of this tail :)

Dumped over his grain... why Henry?!

Hoarding!

Saturday night I got sick, Sunday I didn't get out of bed all day and today (Monday) B is sick so we are home together.

Going to try and lunge just let Henry stretch his legs today, lesson tomorrow, off/turn out Wednesday, lesson Thursday, trainer ride Friday and maybe a lesson Saturday.

In bed

sick and it sucks...

Passing the time watching the FEI $150,000 Grand Prix CSIO 4*

Hope you are all having a better Sunday then me...