It's been a while yet again, blogger. I legitimately suck.
My life has been a black hole of busy, busy, busy.
Things that have happened since my last post:
I (ok, this was before Steepleview but I haven't talked about it) acquired a boyfriend. And a wonderful one, at that. He is enthusiastically learning about my ponies and is shamelessly loving on Miss Fox, who thinks he is a keeper (if he keeps supplying her peppermints, that is...).
Bailey went to Roekbe's Run. Our dressage was the best test Bailey has ever put in - steady, not rushed and very relaxed for the horse that spent the weekend stall walking like a monster. We came out with a 40.5 (which I think was a little harsh...) and were sitting in 4th. XC was a delight and Bailey skipped around in 4:04 - there was a mix up with the posted Optimum time and speed fault time, so instead of riding for 4:40, I rode for 4:00... luckily we had those 4 seconds, or we would have picked up some penalties! Bailey was a little distractable and spooky, but jumped what I put in front of her with no stops. We galloped our way into 1st, which was icing on the cake! Waiting for SJ, I got really nervous and tried to not get excited about how well Bailey had done the day before and tried to fight off the nerves of sitting in first. Bailey, however, seemed completely unconcerned once she went into the SJ ring. She spooked - hard - at a pole boy before we even crossed the laser line towards the first fence, but she jumped around brilliantly and left all the poles in the cups. We got to lead the victory gallop, spooking at our ribbon all the way. Hey! I'm so completely proud of my red horse - 1st at her third show ever!! And finishing on her dressage score!
After Roebke's, the princess got a well deserved 2 week rest. My plan for that time was to get Foxie slowly back in shape, but she was rocking (pun intended) a stone bruise that turned into an abscess so she spent most of Bailey's time off gimping around and getting Epsom salt foot baths. Getting on the monster after our 2 week rest was a bit... exciting but she came back, as she tends to, with new skills. This time it was some very nice simple changes and some extra toe-flicking as we work on collection (still kind of lacking) before pushing for our medium trot using half halts. We've been working on collection > Medium and collection > extended canter in lessons for the last few weeks, and her time off seems to have cemented the idea really well.
We also went full circle and went to visit the lovely Jane Braddock for her fall clinic. Bailey was a room without a roof (SO HAPPY!) to be out in the crisp fall air and while she was a bit unruly, and more than a bit spooky, she felt scopey and capable of jumping all of the things, which has also been a result of her time off. While she lost some strength (read, we're back to falling out of the canter hind end first...) she gained a bit of mental maturity when it comes to scary fences. She has not, however, been impressing me with any other kind of maturity. Bailey has been stupid spooky and hard to focus, which is something we're going to need to work through this winter, as I am NOT taking her out on XC when she's being so disobedient. Jane suggested trail riding and more exposure, which seems like a good idea - I just have to get brave enough to trail ride her!
Goals for the next month:
- Continue to improve collection and the medium trot
- Do more leg yeilding, shoulders in, etc.
- Jump school at 2'6 consistently
- Blog more.
Pictures will happen, at one point.
My life has been a black hole of busy, busy, busy.
Things that have happened since my last post:
I (ok, this was before Steepleview but I haven't talked about it) acquired a boyfriend. And a wonderful one, at that. He is enthusiastically learning about my ponies and is shamelessly loving on Miss Fox, who thinks he is a keeper (if he keeps supplying her peppermints, that is...).
Bailey went to Roekbe's Run. Our dressage was the best test Bailey has ever put in - steady, not rushed and very relaxed for the horse that spent the weekend stall walking like a monster. We came out with a 40.5 (which I think was a little harsh...) and were sitting in 4th. XC was a delight and Bailey skipped around in 4:04 - there was a mix up with the posted Optimum time and speed fault time, so instead of riding for 4:40, I rode for 4:00... luckily we had those 4 seconds, or we would have picked up some penalties! Bailey was a little distractable and spooky, but jumped what I put in front of her with no stops. We galloped our way into 1st, which was icing on the cake! Waiting for SJ, I got really nervous and tried to not get excited about how well Bailey had done the day before and tried to fight off the nerves of sitting in first. Bailey, however, seemed completely unconcerned once she went into the SJ ring. She spooked - hard - at a pole boy before we even crossed the laser line towards the first fence, but she jumped around brilliantly and left all the poles in the cups. We got to lead the victory gallop, spooking at our ribbon all the way. Hey! I'm so completely proud of my red horse - 1st at her third show ever!! And finishing on her dressage score!
After Roebke's, the princess got a well deserved 2 week rest. My plan for that time was to get Foxie slowly back in shape, but she was rocking (pun intended) a stone bruise that turned into an abscess so she spent most of Bailey's time off gimping around and getting Epsom salt foot baths. Getting on the monster after our 2 week rest was a bit... exciting but she came back, as she tends to, with new skills. This time it was some very nice simple changes and some extra toe-flicking as we work on collection (still kind of lacking) before pushing for our medium trot using half halts. We've been working on collection > Medium and collection > extended canter in lessons for the last few weeks, and her time off seems to have cemented the idea really well.
We also went full circle and went to visit the lovely Jane Braddock for her fall clinic. Bailey was a room without a roof (SO HAPPY!) to be out in the crisp fall air and while she was a bit unruly, and more than a bit spooky, she felt scopey and capable of jumping all of the things, which has also been a result of her time off. While she lost some strength (read, we're back to falling out of the canter hind end first...) she gained a bit of mental maturity when it comes to scary fences. She has not, however, been impressing me with any other kind of maturity. Bailey has been stupid spooky and hard to focus, which is something we're going to need to work through this winter, as I am NOT taking her out on XC when she's being so disobedient. Jane suggested trail riding and more exposure, which seems like a good idea - I just have to get brave enough to trail ride her!
Goals for the next month:
- Continue to improve collection and the medium trot
- Do more leg yeilding, shoulders in, etc.
- Jump school at 2'6 consistently
- Blog more.
Pictures will happen, at one point.
