Wednesday, February 20, 2013

I just needed to get on my horse

Saturday I rode, but it was on someone else's horse. A Trakehner named Fancy.. It 's the cause for starting that irresistable urge to ride, regardless of the temps and footing that always occurs this time of year. ( More about Fancy later)

I took Monday off and it was relatively nice out so the hubby and I took the" kids" up the road for a quick ride. I don't know what we were thinking because we always try to avoid riding Maggie and Brego together. It's bad  ju ju between those two but it was one of those afternoons where we were trying to get some household chore stuff done and then simultaneously  we both had a " I just need to get on my horse" moment.

In only a few minutes from home both "kids" (juvenile delinquents would be a more appropriate description) found every excuse to act out. Maggie nearly kicked a car that went by and Brego just wanted to run, far and fast. Good think he has a braking system well installed.

We eventually  managed to get them sorted out after a bit and it actually turned from "what were we thinking" to "this isn't so bad" kind of ride.  Ofcourse, coming home Maggie had some less than obedient moments but we mostly worked through it. I would have given anything to  have gone straight out to the arena to ride her for a few more minutes but it's still covered in snow and ice.

It was really nice to get on my horse  and ride her, even if she was a bit fiesty. The good news however is that  after this weekend Maggie will be getting worked on a more consistent basis  regardless of the capricious late winter/early spring weather and bad footing.

 I will be moving Maggie to a boarding facility for the next two months. It's a big decision that has some financial compormises but I found a reasonable priced facility with access to an indoor riding arena, albeit a small arena.We have traditionally hauled to nearby arena's in the past once a week , for a not so reasonable price but its never consistent and hard to get anything of value accomplished. This facility also has direct access to the trails I often train on for endurance conditioning so it's almost the best of both worlds.

Fancy- ok, back to Fancy. I am totally excited about this new adventure I seem to have fallen into. The first things was finding a trainer, which I never thought I would be able to do  since I knew of most of the local trainers could not really get excited about taking lessons from any of them.  Not because they are bad people or anything. I just didn't share any of my same training philosophies or was overly impressed with what they were teaching. I was fortunate in my child hood to have had the opportunity to work with some really great trainers so I guess my expectations are high. About the time I was going to can the whole idea of trying to get back into a little jumping,  I found this lady who is relatively new to the area. She has only been here two years. I called her, and she actually called me right back. First test, passed. Then I arranged to go out to her facility to meet her. That went well and he invited me to come and watch a lesson or offered to come let me watch her ride and I did that too. I definitely felt like she was someone who could help me and I could learn from. So, I signed up for a lesson. My first lesson was last Saturday.

 From the time Iwas a young girl I always dreamed of owning and jumping a Trakehner. I got to ride one Trakehner gelding that was stabled at the show barn I was employed by,  but he was deemed a horse that was dangerous and whicked off to some other training barn. I cried the day he left the barn. I was hoping to save up my pennies and buy him. Young girls and their horse dreams.

As it turns out, as a not so  young girl, I might be get to live out that dream just yet....

Fancy is  the lesson horse, owned by my  trainer. She's a Trakehner. Wow, that sounds weird, I have a trainer?? It's been years since I have gotten to say that! Anyways, Fancy is a Trakehner and she is pretty darn cute.  In my lessons, I havent actually jumped yet and don't expect to for a while yet.  Relearning how to ride with such incredibly SHORT Stirrups will be my first big challenge and relearning how to stay balanced and secure in a two point position will be my next challenge. Only one lesson and my legs , lower back and hips were already screaming at me. How the heck did I do this for so many years??!?!

I guess it's safe to say that  Endurance is definitely on the back burner as of right now.  We may try to attend one LD later in the summer if we have time to train but it's definitely not the priority.

Honestly,  I have no idea where things will go, whether I will ever jump Maggie, or ever do endurance with her again but I am looking forward to having a different focus for a while. I even  have tentatively set up some time to work on cows later this spring with her.  I really want to take this time to figure out what her niche is. I know Endurance probably isn't it, even though she has the speed, she is missing some other key things that make a successful competitor. I will continue to work on Maggie's training in the arena setting. Lots of dressage focused work (boring I know , right?)
I plan to  put her on the lunge for a concerted amount of our training time and work on her canter  and cnater transition. Right now  her canter transition is not a transition at all , but better described as an explosion with a few bucks thrown in for good measure and once I get her through that, her canter is a gallop. 


There is no lack of things to work on and that's just with Maggie. I still have JB to work as well and I officially have the riding bug!











 

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