We stepped away from dressage briefly to do some jumping and that was pure joy! Really impressed with my little horse who used to spook at ground poles. He felt good and keen. Plus he has great form! I think my joy comes from mixing it up and seeing him turn his hoof to a variety of things. have a love/hate relationship with dressage. 
But now we’re both on Stall rest (my injury is not horse related, his is a mystery), so no joy there!
That is awesome. That is what it’s all about, a horse you can enjoy and grow with!!
I totally get it!! Good job. It’s all the little details that make me enjoy dressage so much as well.
Cantering Carrot, I think it is so good for both horse and rider to switch it up! I have to kind of dabble because I just take dressage so seriously that I need to do other things too!
In that note, we did our first little h/j show. We just did two pile of pole classes. It was at our home barn but the atmosphere and warm up area was a lot for both of us at first. But we came together and came away with our first blue ribbon! Technically we probably got one at our dressage schooling show too but they didn’t hand out any ribbons for that one, just the score sheets.
So proud!
I’m doing a little pile of poles clinic next week with a three-star Eventer. We were supposed to do our first clinic with Jessica Wisdom for dressage but it got canceled because of the holidays/high cost of flights. Boo. But poles are fun too!
I got to ride my younger horse for the first time in six weeks. I was expecting the usual fussing about the fact that there was a saddle on and I had actually gotten on! but no, he walked off actively, thinking more about the new arena’s sights and sounds. After five minutes or so I realized I had no plan for the ride beyond getting on and not getting lawn darted. 
I ended up running through the basics to see where his head was. Nothing much but I really enjoyed it. He actually sweated up a bit - I’m going to have to clip him this year, now that we have an indoor arena again.
I took the imported stallion out for his first ridden outing with me today. Just a lesson but it was great to get him out doing something besides breeding!
Such a kind soul under saddle. He was no different, except a little noiser, than at home.
I was scrubbing a couple of water troughs and the mustangs all came in from pasture. Made me so happy that they are interested and curious about me doing peopley things. Or, maybe they were just thirsty and wanted to get a drink from the creek… Either way, they did pay me a nice little visit. This guy is going to be the next one i train. He’s a big chonk and has a lot of horsesense.
The 21yo pony gave me what I think is the best ride we’ve ever had today and I’m still on cloud 9! We’ve been working hard on her weaknesses (transitions mainly) and it’s really paying off! I even threw in the beginnings of counter canter and she nailed it. We also got an actual canter to walk transition (this pony is a GO go pony so that’s really quite an achievement). Such a joy to feel so connected and with your horse, and even more special after everything this girl and I have been through. I love my young horse, but the pony is my heart horse.
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Training the beginning of piaffe with my young guy - so proud of how far we’ve come as I learn with him and excited for our show season this year 
Younger horse has been having back trouble since my ill-fated experiment with a memory foam half pad last November. He has put weight and muscle back on since last summer’s puzzling loss and his saddle was bridging. As a result I have ridden him very little this year.
The saddle fitter came today and despite the ice falling off the arena roof past the translucent panels, the icy footing outside that has kept him from blowing off excess energy, the unfamiliar horse in the arena which left shortly after we went in, the inevitable “we don’t do that saddle/riding thing any more” reaction, the whiny “it feels different! I don’t like it!”, the periodic whinnies from his buddy outside, the… you get the idea. 
Despite all that he didn’t buck or spook me off, he did try to do what I asked and we arrived at a good fit that we can go forward with.
I was really proud of him today. 
And I got to ride!!
We lost my trainer on Jan 15, so the barn has had a lot of heavy and crying lately. He got sick December, and our last lesson was working canter to walk. He raved about how great my mare’s use of her body was and how excited he was for a future, I thanked him for everything and making sure I’d be able to buy her (he and his wife bred her), and it was ugly but mechanics of hind legs were there.
2 months and about 5 rides where we worked on it later, I was playing with a video of simple changes, and she can SIT! Such a good girl! My trainer would be proud, and I’m proud I wasn’t pulling on her face 
This was in the change from canter to walk, so not either gait yet.
Edit: It looks like picture uploading is broken again. I can’t imagine why we would actually want to be able to share with each other on a message board. 
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Today, following a friend around the ring, she trotted, so we trotted. She cantered, half pass across the diagonal, straighten, change. We did the same. 
We haven’t schooled changes yet! It worked with the opposite pattern, too. I guess we have schooled changes now…
I’m hoping if I post others will, too!
First outing since we lost my trainer. His wife drove me, and she and I both had a good cry to start the day, but our full siblings were wonderful and the schooling show was exactly what I hoped to get from the day- progress on her tuning me out and becoming stiff as a board in public, and we will have more future outings to work on the same. She is SUCH a good girl. The second video is actually a spook. As much as she does anyway… talk about ammy friendly horses!
Also, I really love our local dressage community. So much lovely support from folks who got the significance of us being back out there.
@netg, it’s great that you got back out there and felt the support of your community!
I was full of joy this week! We did a JJ Tate clinic last week and the changes she made to my leg position have been transformative already. My horse is much more forward and engaged! We definitely need to go slowly and build/stretch new muscles, but it feels like anything is possible now.
Uh, if there’s a spook in that video, I’m gonna have to take your word for it 
lol…me too. Made me think of Crocodile Dundee: “You call that a knife? THIS is a knife”
Ok, glad I’m not the only one wondering where the spook was a “loss of attention” or “very minor distraction/glance” perhaps. However, if that’s her “spook” then that’s good for you. Much easier to ride than one that teleports 
Had a real nice day today 
in my state they have a series this year. it’s third level and if you qualify in two competitions you can enter in the finals and ride a third level freestyle.
Today was my first try and there was really stiff competition. Unfortunately everybody else in the class was probably 14 to 20 years old which is normal in Germany. My age group doesn’t really compete anymore…. It’s a very nice location at a big jumper barn who held a CSI last week… he left all the tents and the decoration for us with all the flags and everything so it felt like riding in Wellington 
.
and IMO my horse and me did a very decent test (63%) and got the qualifying score with this 
. We missed the ribbons but we do have room to improve and we are working on it……
That’s the point! My now retired TB is a super violent bucker, and my older mare is a scoot and bolt type. First time I rode my mare was something like her 3rd ride, and my trainer’s old arena had a utility box just off a corner. We were trotting past it as it made a zapping noise. She flipped an ear, and I said, “I…think… that was her spook?” She has spun twice in her life in a spook. Just a fabulous brain and my new vocabulary is about a “JJ spook” and a “JJ bad ride” both of which are about as bad as that one. I could feel tension and she came above the bit and stiffened in her body a couple strides. That’s about it! She has bucked once under saddle, and it was just funny because she startled herself when she did it. My trainer started her one day by hopping on bareback with a halter because he knew from all the groundwork she simply wouldn’t care.
Everyone should have the joy of a horse who is so normal and easy sometime! She still has opinions and emotions, sure, but she’s just joy daily.
Bringing this thread back up because I just had the most brilliant ride on my 5.5yo. I was wondering just a few weeks ago if I bit off more than I could chew breaking in and training up a young horse from scratch.
Today she proved why it’s worth it and showed just how nice a horse she is going to be! We’ve both twigged on a few things and she’s really getting the hang of contact, forwards and connection! Turns out those people who say transitions, transitions, transitions are in fact correct 
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