Wonderful lessons!

Walking and trotting through the water:)


BN Log!

Well I had two wonderful lessons and one amazing lesson.. So since Chels has been working with Kiz we always start my lessons with her riding Kiz. This is partly due to Kiz being on her toes a bit and partly due to my confidence. Well after the last few rides I decided I need to just get on and tough it out if she is full of it. All of the anxiety is in my mind and I need to get over that so what better way to get over it then to make myself do what I am anxious about. Ya know it really worked my confidence is getting stronger and I am enjoying my horse more.

Well enough about me Kiz is coming along great. We have really been working on her getting more relaxed and balanced. When she is balanced she is more relaxed and she is less fussy. I am still working on giving her nice clear aids and keeping my weight where it should be. I sometimes forget to use my whole body and it is amazing how responsive to that she is.. I guess it pushes me to become a better rider which is what I need.

We got to bring Kiz and Issy over to the main barn for the weekend and it was great. Chelsey got to do some schooling over fences and some nice XC work. The weather was finally nice also so we got to ride outside and I even jumped on her and got her going really well outside before Chels jumped. I guess she was a bit full of herself Friday but on Saturday when Cindi,Rick and I all rode she was awesome. She was listening to my aids and moving forward (well she always moves forward) in a balanced frame. When Chels got on to do some jumps she was chill and relaxed over the fences. We then took them out in the XC field and Chels did some schooling and even did a bit of water work. She was great! Chels will keep her going this week and introduce some more of the XC schooling to her work. I will get to have lessons with her and Cindi on Thursday and Friday. I should probably start jumping soon again so I can get my mind and body back into it. I miss jumping and can't wait to do it again. It has been almost 2 yrs so I need to get the cobwebs off..

I have such a good time at the barn and Cindi and Chels make everything that much more fun. I can't wait to go to Montana and Kiz is coming along so nicely it makes it that much more exciting:)

Horses and there legs...

Well last Thursday I was all ready to have a great ride and I get a text from Chelsey letting me know that Kiz had a swollen left hind and she was a bit off. Horses are so fragile and sometimes we forget just how fragile. I ended up going to the barn taking her out for a walk/lunge to see how she felt because besides the swelling there wasn't anything else going on that I could see. I cold hosed and then walked her around again and put her away. She was a sweet quiet girl even when the black arabian started running around his paddock like a wild man. She does have a great mind:)

Friday Gage and I went to watch Dressage at the Aspen Farm event. Cindi was a volunteer for the dressage warm up so we hung out there and helped when needed. We saw some nice dressage tests and some really crazy tests on young horses. It was a bunch of fun and now Gage wants to take lessons with Chelsey on Linus so that will be fun. I checked on Kiz again she was still a bit swollen but it had gone down a bit and she was not off at all.

On Saturday Mom and I jump judged for Cross Country all day at the event and we had a blast. I saw some really wonderful rides and some really ugly rides but all in all the weather was great and the course rode wonderfully so that was good. Training, Prelim and Intermediate went on Saturday so it really made me want to push myself harder so that I can be the rider I want to be and can get Kiz out there going strong:) Chelsey had wrapped Kiz's leg so by Saturday the swelling was just about gone and she wasn't off at all. I decided to wait until Monday to ride.

Monday's ride was awesome. I just did a light ride since it was her first day back after 4 days off and she was great. I worked mainly on getting her relaxed and soft with me giving her clear aids. She moved away from my leg pressure and relaxed well. We stuck with the basics and she was great so I quit with that. I have another lesson Thursday so I am excited!

Enough thinking!

Well I having been thinking about things for the last few days and I feel I am doing alright. I talked to my great hubby Dan last night and he supports my decision so just knowing that I have that support makes me feel much better. I am ready to get my back bone back and start being a real eventer again. I guess as we get older we all have to take a step back, look at what we are doing and make sure it is all good. I feel I did that and I am ready to move forward.

My new short term goal is to ride more and become more comfortable and brave with Kizzy. I know she is in full training but I want to ride her 2-4 times per week which will be more then my 1-2 times that I do now. Even if Chels continues to jump on first I mean I am paying for her to train Kiz so I don't want to miss out on that either. I think if I ride more I will get that comfortable feeling back again and Kiz and I can go have a good time.

I still want to get my son Gage a pony and work with him on his horse care and riding techniques. If I work with him and the pony at home and he comes to the barn with me and helps a little with Kiz I can spend quality time with him and we can have a bunch of fun.

All I have to say to all the people that are getting back into riding after doing it when they were young is Good Luck and Have Fun!!!! Hopefully some of that young bravery comes back:) So here we go.... Hopefully my next post will be how great my ride is on Thursday:)

Sometimes it's hard..

Well we are moving along although my lesson on Friday was a bit eventful. I can feel my fear creeping up again when Kizzy starts acting hot. She has never done anything to feed this fear but the anxious feeling is always in the back of my mind. I really think it is my age and the fact that I don't ride everyday. Two Fridays ago we were having a lesson and she was dancing around and kicking out when I was trying to move her forward. This was all because a few pigeons were doing the naughty dance up in the rafters. When she gets like this she completely tunes the rider out and she gets really mad when you keep pestering her with your forward aids. Well we ended up lunging her and getting her refocused then Chels jumped on and put her through her paces. I am glad Chels can just work her through it but it is tough not being able to do that myself.

My lesson last Wednesday was awesome but it was at the barn she is used to and there is less going on. During the beginning of that lesson my son Gage asked if we could bring Gunther over to the barn so he could ride too (Gunther being my 33 yr old horse at home). This just pulled at my heart strings. He has been wanting to ride with me and get a pony for a long time now. He loves to help with the horses like I had mentioned before and it hurts me that he can never help me with Kiz. I also would like my husband and Gage to enjoy coming to horse events with me. With Kiz my husband worries to much and he can't really help me with her either because he is not the most horse savvy. I am starting to worry that Kiz is to much horse for me at this point in my life and it makes me wonder about my goals. I still love to rid her and she is amazing but she brings so much anxiety to my life that I am not sure I want. I know that this has crossed my mind before as seen in previous post but with Kiz getting in better shape she is getting also a bit more full of herself. As of now we are still on track with YEH but I have a lot of thinking to do.....