Love the last picture! 
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I am going to a working equitation clinic tomorrow. Should be fun. You give me motivation 
.
Susan
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I completely agree!
I’m horse shopping again, and every now and then I ask myself, “Are you sure you want to go down this road again?”
The answer is always, “Yes. Yes I do.”
@KBC, your joy and enthusiasm is infectious. Thank you for keeping me inspired.
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LOVE these. Your face captures the pure joy of being on a horse.
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It’s a rare thing for me, my face often forgets we are having fun.
Unlike this other lady of a certain age, who never, ever stopped smiling through the whole clinic and show.
I was so glad she won the judges choice pony!
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She looks like she’s having a blast too!
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I did the WE clinic Saturday. Very fun. Kyra was a rock star on all the intro stuff. She was able to do all of the ease of handling obstacles. I hope to get to do more.
Susan
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Glad you both had fun, was there anything she struggled with? So many riders worry over the Garrocha pole, but horses seem to cope well, only to melt down at being asked to do a gate. 
I was catching up with friends I haven’t seen for a long time at a dressage show. A large part of me wished I was riding Braam, but I think the part that said, stick to WE was shouting louder, it’s such a blast.
No, she was more than fine with the garrocha. I have previously worked with a trainer that was doing regular garrocha work and we did a clinic…years ago.
We just worked with a shorter PVC pole. She remembered and was not concerned in the least. I need to get my thumb out faster to keep the ring from going over my hand. I need to try the ‘real’ one next time. The ‘bull’ elicited a few looks at first. It was a big fish cut-out…with horns.
She really didn’t have any weak obstacles. I thought the gate would be dicey. I have done lots of gate work with her and it is hard to get her to wait for me to ask her to move this or that body part. She says oh, I know what you want and proceeds to try it at speed 
( this was only intro—no speed needed). She was really good with the gate they had. She was schooling solid 2nd level dressage way back in 2012 when my body’s skeleton started failing. Riding has been more miss than hit ever since then and I have never returned to the required fitness. Just when I get one thing fixed and rehabbed, something else falls apart. I am still riding as long as I can get on .
Most of my present problems are my limited time in the saddle…both from hip pain (probably needs replaced 
) and my elder care duties. I didn’t even think I was going to make this clinic as Mom got up with a nosebleed. But, we got that under control, got my sister to come check on her and I zoomed off to the barn. . Both horse and I were done after an hour (clinic session was 2hrs). Neither one of us have great fitness from our 2-3x/week 20-30 minute rides. I think the horse was ready to call the union on me. So I see that as the main thing to work on. The skills were there (at least for walk-trot).
I really enjoyed it. It gives the dressage work a purpose…an actual task to accomplish besides all the usual dressage requirements.
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Yes, that’s it, gives dressage a purpose, and gives you a chance to redeem yourself playing with obstacles, when yiu are less than stellar in the dressage arena.
Meanwhile “buggrit millennium hand and shrimp.
It’s been quite a week.
I rode Braam last Thursday, and while some of what we did was probably our best work ever, he was occasionally kind of tripping behind, this is totally new. We were discussing maybe resting him for a while. Then I went and turned him out, he rolled as he always does, Then he went to get up, and struggled, never seen him do that before, so I am stepping back from him until he is recovered.
So i was messaging Mellows owner, to see if i could ride him more often, and potentially show him. She agreed, and we arranged to meet on Friday to chat.
Well Friday was a horrible day, we found Mellow in the pasture with a grossly swollen face, brought him in, he was in great distress. The vet has been 3 times, and at last his swelling is going down, but the skin around his eyes and nose is split and so sore looking, poor boy. No one knows what he found, or what found him, but glad he is on the mend at last.
Not sure what’s going to happen long term for either of them, but for now I am riding this very striking boy! It’s only a stop gap, he is for sale, and I don’t think he will be around for long. In the meantime he is teaching me the art of proper one handed riding! He’s price is $10000, and today proved that I would be better with. $1000 horse and $9000 of lessons
But, I do believe I look good on him.
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Oh no! Poor Mellow and Braam, jingles for them both. Do you think Mellow maybe tangled with a snake or spider?
Your new ride is eye catching!
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No venemous spiders or snakes up here, that’s what living in the freezer gets you, freedom for such things. If we lived further south I woukd certainly be suspicious of one or the other. It’s a mystery though, we have little that would do harm, and he had been in the pasture he was in, on rotation for 3 years.
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Possibly some bees or wasps?
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So sorry about Braam and Mellow. The spotted fellow is magnificent and you look so good together. I am glad you can continue your journey.
I really enjoyed our WE clinic. I rode for an hour and my hip didn’t like it much. The hip probably needs replaced and I also have 2 torn tendons in that hip so I don’t know how much riding I will be doing this summer 
. I get to the doctor next month and will see what they say.
That’s possible, but there hasn’t been any activity from either yet. Everyone is puzzled, what ever it is, I really hope he doesn’t do it again!
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Awww poor boy. Jingles for him and for Braam.
Yesterday was WE day at the barn, and I got to ride Munzy again, as I will be for at least two months, YIPPEE and I get to show him in 3 weeks, not sure what level, didn’t test his canter out, wasn’t ready on Thursday, and didn’t want to upset the good work we were doing yesterday, so next ride we’ll see how that works out, and play with some obstacles, he’s new to WE and I don’t think he has done a whole course yet.
I must say that he looks totally awesome in my tack, but heck, those spots make anything look good. He is teaching me to neck rein properly, yesterday we made so much progress with not using my hand, just body, seat and legs. Also made great progress in the “agh the poles will kill me” to “0h yeah, this is no biggie “
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What a good boy.
For those who know my back history, you’ll really get this, and skip the next paragraph, for anyone who doesn’t…quick précis:
I was never the most confident rider, but 11 years ago an accident that left me in hospital for nearly a month, left me a very scared rider. The last 11 years have been a series of ups and downs, some horses helped, some made it worse, and gradually it has improve.
Yesterday I rode Munsy, the wind was trying to take the roof off the arena, the noise was so loud coach was using the microphone, that has a light up disco style speaker, and Mr Munsy was not cool with any of this. For the first time, riding a horse I don’t know well, I was cool with all of it. It was a fantastic feeling to feel calm and in control. So much so, that after we had warmed up, and got “called to order” I was only a little sick to my stomach when told the first exercise of the day was a canter exercise, counting strides to, and away from a ground pole. So, in a noisy arena, riding one handed, on a strange horse, here’s me trying to lope. I had been warned his lope wasn’t that great, so my want to lope wasn’t that strong. We spent a bit of time with me asking, and him going NOPE, you don’t really want to. Until I DID, really want to, and let him do his thing….I LOVE his lope. He has a huge stride, and is very forward, but very comfortable, need to be able to shorten that stride long term, but for now WOW. The two mares were averaging 11-13 strides to the pole, we got there in 9 everytime.
He is a really nice sort, now hoping he sticks around for a little while, because he could be fun.
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Haven’t updated for a while, and much has happened, a lot of it good. Sadly all the good has been overshadowed by the loss of Braam.
He went down in the pasture and was unable to rise, and the decision was to euthanize him, he had totally lost his back end. I was invited to come and spend some time with him, and was glad to be able to say thank you, and goodbye, and tell the Working Equitation horse that he just one more bridge to cross.
I cannot believe that I will never get to hang out with the gentle beauty again, am devastated that I will never get to experience the sheer joy of riding him. Part of me is shouting “you are 67 years old, you will never find that level of joy again, quit now” A bigger part shouts back, well that would be wasting the gifts that Braam gave you, ride on lady.
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