Bonjour, ma amies! Oui, je prends l'examen francais aujourd'hui. :)
(I know; my french stinks)
All done. Stick it in a translator...or use common sense ;).
Helloooo (in native language)! I should start writing in German...hmm...well, anywhoo. I had midterm week this week, so besides Monday I had the second half of Tuesday and Thursday off, all of Wednesday, and tomorrow I technically have off but I'm going to a pretty longgg choir practice. But ANYHOW, I had lots of fun riding this week! First, we start with a little story from wayyy back last Saturday.
Daisy has a stall issue. She constantly tries to rush into her stall at Jean's farm, and she'll run you along the wall if you don't watch out. Jean doesn't allow anyone besides herself or another experienced adult lead her (besides me, of course) into the stall because she's gotten away with it too many times. She just gets rushy, and it's all Daisy can do to keep herself at a walk. So, last Saturday she was behaving just like that with Jean, and Jean made her walk and got her in the stall, but Daisy was in a big hurry to turn around and get to her hay that she spun so fast she wiped out, no kidding. Jean says she fell over completely, had a sort of stunned look on her face for a millisecond, and then scrambled up. Daisy *strongly dislikes* being seen lying down :P. Needless to say, she seemed a little sore riding on Sunday, but not too horrible. She has also gotten much better about going in her stall, with the help of a chain lead. She doesn't rush in or spin fast at all. I guess sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way ;).
I didn't get to ride on Monday, came back Tuesday and worked her pretty hard at the canter. I've had comments from more then one person saying that Daisy is much calmer this year and collected. She collects so nicely at the canter these days; not rushy at all like last winter. She collects beautifully at all gaits, really. I suppose I should clarify, however, when I say "collect" I don't mean stepping under nice dressage collect (Sheesh...I wish!), I just mean, she's much slower and more controlled. I'm very proud of her these days, with the control and her getting "on" the bit so much.
Wednesday was quite a fun day! A member of the Yautzy Road Yahoos, our 4H club, who rides at Jean's farm received an early birthday gift! She'd been taking lessons on Jean's (technically new) Morgan mare, about 24 years, for a couple months and really liked her; the Morgan is quite showy, and this rider just clicks with her, you can tell. After a bit of grooming and ribbon tying, Jean and I hid behind a feed bin in a stall and watched as said rider walked in to find her favorite lesson pony in the crossties with a big bow around her neck and a sign that asked "Will you be my human?". Of course, it was an adorably sweet moment. I taped it...not sure if I'll put it on here, though. In any case, it was sooo nice to see :). We rode after that, and then went to horsebowl (topic: skeletal and muscular system).
Today was collldddd ( about 12 degrees during the day; 8 degrees currently), and we got a blizzard sorta thing, and after our language tests, my friend and I headed to the barn. We mucked a couple stalls, and then rode Daisy. The arena was loud today with all the wind and snow falling off the roof, and Daisy was actually nervous (which rarely happens). I had to walk her past the shaking and creaking "doors of doom" (also known as the horse-eating entrance) a few times inside before she calmed down enough to ride. I got on, got her a job, and warmed her up and she was ok. When I felt she was doing good, my friend (who's been taking weekly lesson about 3 years) got on. I warned her to stop any time the arena got real loud, but there were no problems, and only one time did we need to do that, at which point the human door of the arena (which is handle-less :P) flung open with a startling noise. Daisy tensed a little and looked up all alert, but she didn't move, and it turned out fine. My friend walked and trotted her, and it was pretty cool to see my horse being ridden from the ground. Two things that really stuck out: her hind end seems to have very little muscle, so she doesn't step under much (however I have been doing the exercises :)) and she has an absolutely beautiful long tail that kinda waves behind her when she trots :). I knew there was a reason why I am adamant about long manes and tails ;).
Also, concerning our goals for 2010 (I haven't forgotten) Daisy can pretty much perfectly do a turn on the forehand to the left, and almost perfectly to the right. Turn on the hindquarters is another story; she sorta does it, but she's confused because she thinks I'm asking for a side pass :-/...And I've been working on flying lead changes over poles in the arena that are set up in a pattern-y-thing (Maybe I'll draw a diagram at some point :P) and she does really well over poles (gets the leads I'd say 90% of the time) but won't do a thing on the flat...any tips?
Alright, sorry this is sorta long...Do you like my new layout?
Hope you're staying warm tonight wherever you are!
(I know; my french stinks)
All done. Stick it in a translator...or use common sense ;).
Helloooo (in native language)! I should start writing in German...hmm...well, anywhoo. I had midterm week this week, so besides Monday I had the second half of Tuesday and Thursday off, all of Wednesday, and tomorrow I technically have off but I'm going to a pretty longgg choir practice. But ANYHOW, I had lots of fun riding this week! First, we start with a little story from wayyy back last Saturday.
Daisy has a stall issue. She constantly tries to rush into her stall at Jean's farm, and she'll run you along the wall if you don't watch out. Jean doesn't allow anyone besides herself or another experienced adult lead her (besides me, of course) into the stall because she's gotten away with it too many times. She just gets rushy, and it's all Daisy can do to keep herself at a walk. So, last Saturday she was behaving just like that with Jean, and Jean made her walk and got her in the stall, but Daisy was in a big hurry to turn around and get to her hay that she spun so fast she wiped out, no kidding. Jean says she fell over completely, had a sort of stunned look on her face for a millisecond, and then scrambled up. Daisy *strongly dislikes* being seen lying down :P. Needless to say, she seemed a little sore riding on Sunday, but not too horrible. She has also gotten much better about going in her stall, with the help of a chain lead. She doesn't rush in or spin fast at all. I guess sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way ;).
I didn't get to ride on Monday, came back Tuesday and worked her pretty hard at the canter. I've had comments from more then one person saying that Daisy is much calmer this year and collected. She collects so nicely at the canter these days; not rushy at all like last winter. She collects beautifully at all gaits, really. I suppose I should clarify, however, when I say "collect" I don't mean stepping under nice dressage collect (Sheesh...I wish!), I just mean, she's much slower and more controlled. I'm very proud of her these days, with the control and her getting "on" the bit so much.
Wednesday was quite a fun day! A member of the Yautzy Road Yahoos, our 4H club, who rides at Jean's farm received an early birthday gift! She'd been taking lessons on Jean's (technically new) Morgan mare, about 24 years, for a couple months and really liked her; the Morgan is quite showy, and this rider just clicks with her, you can tell. After a bit of grooming and ribbon tying, Jean and I hid behind a feed bin in a stall and watched as said rider walked in to find her favorite lesson pony in the crossties with a big bow around her neck and a sign that asked "Will you be my human?". Of course, it was an adorably sweet moment. I taped it...not sure if I'll put it on here, though. In any case, it was sooo nice to see :). We rode after that, and then went to horsebowl (topic: skeletal and muscular system).
Today was collldddd ( about 12 degrees during the day; 8 degrees currently), and we got a blizzard sorta thing, and after our language tests, my friend and I headed to the barn. We mucked a couple stalls, and then rode Daisy. The arena was loud today with all the wind and snow falling off the roof, and Daisy was actually nervous (which rarely happens). I had to walk her past the shaking and creaking "doors of doom" (also known as the horse-eating entrance) a few times inside before she calmed down enough to ride. I got on, got her a job, and warmed her up and she was ok. When I felt she was doing good, my friend (who's been taking weekly lesson about 3 years) got on. I warned her to stop any time the arena got real loud, but there were no problems, and only one time did we need to do that, at which point the human door of the arena (which is handle-less :P) flung open with a startling noise. Daisy tensed a little and looked up all alert, but she didn't move, and it turned out fine. My friend walked and trotted her, and it was pretty cool to see my horse being ridden from the ground. Two things that really stuck out: her hind end seems to have very little muscle, so she doesn't step under much (however I have been doing the exercises :)) and she has an absolutely beautiful long tail that kinda waves behind her when she trots :). I knew there was a reason why I am adamant about long manes and tails ;).
Also, concerning our goals for 2010 (I haven't forgotten) Daisy can pretty much perfectly do a turn on the forehand to the left, and almost perfectly to the right. Turn on the hindquarters is another story; she sorta does it, but she's confused because she thinks I'm asking for a side pass :-/...And I've been working on flying lead changes over poles in the arena that are set up in a pattern-y-thing (Maybe I'll draw a diagram at some point :P) and she does really well over poles (gets the leads I'd say 90% of the time) but won't do a thing on the flat...any tips?
Alright, sorry this is sorta long...Do you like my new layout?
Hope you're staying warm tonight wherever you are!
