Happy Horse Momma!

Last weekend was Mother's Day, and I have to say -- recently, my girls have made me a very happy horse momma! I never did get around to talking about Elly's progress, so I will talk about her first.

Under saddle, she is coming along like a champ. She is naturally forward--which I prefer--and completely sane. Her walk is swingy & gorgeous, she naturally reaches under herself at the trot, and we've even practiced a couple canter departs. With about 30 days under saddle, she is still finding her balance somewhat, so I am going to continue to work on the canter strength / balance on the lunge, until she is ready to hold it under saddle; however, the fact that I can get a depart eventually is super promising. With her, I've been really just working on basic geometric shapes -- 20m circles, serpentines, figure 8's, etc -- and getting the correct bend. We've started to introduce leg yielding at both the walk & trot too, which she is picking up easily. Her one "downfall" is that her natural self-carriage tends to bring her a little behind the verticle, so getting her to relax into contact is going to be a work in progress for sure.

Also, on the ground, Elly has completely mastered the trailer loading! 2 weeks ago, I took her & Meadow to my friend's indoor. I left Meadow in the trailer (only brought her for moral support) & walked Elly all around the indoor, lunged her a bit, and then we went home. She loaded like a pro each time, was a bit tense in the new environment, but still listened. Again, relaxation will be a work in progress, but I'm sure will get better with each new adventure off-site. Today, I took her by herself on a field-trip to the vet's office in order to get round 2 of her strangles vaccine. Same deal. Loaded the best she ever has each time, was a bit tense while there, but still controllable. I just found out that there is a schooling show very local to me at the end of July, so my goal is to get her out enough between then & now so that it can be her show debut!

As for Meadow, I continue to be pleased & surprised at how far we've come since I've been back from NZ! One of the facebook groups I'm a member of inspired me to put a couple shots of her side-by-side. I definitely see improvement in her muscling & topline in just a bit more than 6 months (including a dreadful winter!). These are obviously not glamour shots... August 2013 after a bath... April 2014 coggins photo... but still, not too shabby!! :)

I took her to the indoor today & we hopped over a little xrail at the trot a few times to loosen up, then worked on canter. We cantered the full arena BOTH DIRECTIONS and even got a couple circles in there. She's definitely still not as strong on the left, but the right is getting so much easier too, which just a couple months ago, that was a battle. So, I know that the left will only continue to get better & better! I do need to work on not throwing her away in the canter departs though. I'm trying to give her too much rein & causing her to rush, rather than take the depart. But, that's my bad--not hers! We are also adding legit shoulder-in to our repertoire. We've worked on it two sessions now, one at home, one at the indoor. She is definitely a little confused & it's definitely hard for her, but she does seem to try. Also, I'm very glad I added those boots, but especially when we are trying the shoulder-in, I can hear some interference behind. She'll learn though, no problem. Give us another month & she'll be cantering perfect circles & doing shoulder-in around the whole arena. ;) Haha. Maybe not just a month, but I'm sure we'll see noted progress! And at this rate, my goal of doing 1st level with her next year should be QUITE attainable. :)

So, as the title states, I have been a very happy horse momma the last couple weeks!

Just for fun -- teaching Meadow to jump! 2' vertical!

The Honeymoon Phase

I have been out of touch for a while here, but I have a great excuse! Erik & I finally went on our honeymoon that has been 2 years delayed due to Navy scheduling. We went to New Zealand & Fiji, and it was an amazing trip, but not horse related, so I shall not digress... :P

Since being back, I've been really turning up the heat on riding regularly & trying to make some progress with my girls. I made a riding schedule while in the airport in Fiji on our return trip, & it gave me some great brainstorming time to think of things to work on & how I wanted to progress.

So, to start with Meadow, I have been really concentrating on the basics with her. 20m circles with good bend, sprinkling in some 10m voltes if need-be to balance her out. I have been doing this consistently for the last few rides with her and it has seemed to help her strength and balance a bit. We also did a long trail-ride on my first Sunday back, & I had her out leading the majority of the time. We had quite a few "training opportunities" on the trail with a TON of bridges. Ended up doing a lot of tight circles and framed-up backings. By the end, she was really responding to my leg & trusting me when I asked her to go forward, but due to the hard ride & "training sessions," she scratched up her back right & it was puffy for the next couple days. So, Meadow basically got a week off; I lunged her once & today was my first day back riding her.

Also, I forgot to mention that I set up a little crossrail to start schooling Meadow over & add some variety, but she would not treat anything that small as a jump and ended up knocking it over every time I'd try to ride over it. I eventually got sick of that, so I hiked it up to a 2' verticle, put a hay bail underneath to make it look "solid," and tried her over that. We've done it a total of 6 times now, each time she takes it super calm, hasn't knocked it down, and jumps very nicely. Proud of my little girl's jumping skills!

Meadow's 6th time over the jump!

Now onto the dreaded canter... Well, the right has really been coming along. At my friend's indoor, we are able to canter full 20m circle, starting to work on a bit of bend even, but the left... not so much. Still bucking & not wanting to hold it. However, out on the trail, going straight, she was fine with both leads. I found that very interesting, as well as the fact that she had knocked up her right hind on the trail. I went ahead and put SMBs on her today for the first time, & while the first canter to the left was buckity, break--per usual--the 2nd and 3rd times were just fine. We got an entire long-side in & the starts of a curve before she broke. I'm thinking--and hoping--that she has been interfering behind causing a lot of these canter issues & with boots, it'll all be solved!! Crossing fingers!

Well... I wanted to update on Elly too, but I am a tired girl... I'll try to update tomorrow... *Teaser* I attempted canter with her both directions today for the first time!! :)