New addition! Welcome Levi!

I haven't written for a while because not a whole lot has been going on but now I have some news. We just bought Gage his first pony. A 10.1 hand grey Shetland gelding named Levi. He is only 4 so we are just really starting his training but he is proving to be a fun pony to work with and should be a quiet responsive pony for Gage to learn on. He is learning to lead and work with Levi now and really seems to enjoy it. I never knew how much fun it would be to work with a pony. They are small and so forgiving. He learns so quickly and since he is the size that he is even when he does throw a bit of attitude it is not a big deal:) We are going to have a bunch of fun teaching him to be a good kids pony and a good driving pony.

Kizzy is doing awesome! Ever since we got back from Montana she seems to have grown up mentally and physically. She is so much more chill about things and she really relaxes much easier when she is having a hot moment. Chels has been working her 5 days a week and jumping her with me riding her 1 day a week which is helping my confidence but I need to ride more. We have been doing ground pole lessons because I want to get jumping again and I have to start somewhere. Even with ground poles everything comes back even if my body isn't what it used to be.

Kiz is getting stronger and I am getting better with my aids so her flat work is really coming along well. I can get her round and listening while moving forward although sometimes she can get a bit lazy and not push from behind. We have been working a lot on her canter to get it more round with more push and although she can only do it for short periods she is starting to use her whole body instead of just cantering around being flat. I feel that once I start riding more which will happen after this weekend I will become more confident with my riding on the flat and over fences.

Aspen Farms has there event this weekend and Chels is riding Kiz Beginner Novice. I am a bit nervous because she is still so green. Chelsey is a great rider though and should give her a nice confident ride. After Aspen Kiz will be done competing for the year. She will be in only partial training with Chels so I can ride her 3-4 times a week with 1-2 lessons a week. With a whole winter of schooling, lessons, clinics and schooling shows we should be a strong partnership next yr. I can't wait to ride more and I think it will help me a bunch!!!

I will post how the show goes after the weekend...Wish us luck!!!

Montana was amazing!!!

We are back from Montana and it was amazing. I am so glad we went and Kizzy could not have been better. She did get last place but it was no fault of hers they were looking for a more experienced horse with more muscling and she had just turned 4 the week before. We didn't push her for this event and she did everything that was asked of her.

The YEH series takes place over one day. It starts out with conformation moves on to dressage and then finishes up with the jumping phase.

Kizzy went out to Montana a week before I did and Chelsey schooled her a bunch. They did ditches, water and other new cross country fences. Chels also did a lot of flat work with her. She settled right into the routine and there were no signs of the spookiness/hotness that I was worried about.

Cindi and I came out to Rebecca around 9:00 A.M. Wednesday to watch Chels work Kizzy with Jon schooling her for the trot out (conformation) that morning. She was awesome even with everything going on. She then had to get braided and spruced up. While they did that Cindi and I went and got her packet and walked around the FEI barn to see if we could see anybody famous:)

Kizzy is not the best at standing up square. Her build is really good but she can make it look really bad:) She trotted up and back like she was at Rolex and didn't bat and eye and everybody milling around. It was then a race to get her ready for her dressage test. Chelsey was riding Nick and Kizzy so we just kept switching horses throughout the competition. I brought Kiz over to the dressage ring right as Chels was finishing up with Nicks test which looked very nice. Kiz warmed up really well and she looked great. The beginning of the test looked wonderful and relaxed then a spectator sat down on the hill in front of her and it spooked her. Her canter transition right after that involved a bit of a kick out and it was pretty tense. I think if there would have been a crowd of people it would have been fine but because it was one man in the middle of a large space she wasn't expecting it...Aahh babies:) Her halt was a bit sideways at the end but all and all the test was nice and she received very nice comments on it too. After dressage Chels jumped on Nick and headed over to cross country with me running after with Kiz in hand. She was still so chill with all the other competitors working there horses and motor bikes zooming around I couldn't believe it.. When I got over to XC she noticed heads above the grass. You know when people walk in tall grass it looks like there heads are floating well this is a big thing for her she doesn't like the floating heads. She also was a bit overwhelmed with the course and the amount of people watching. The course consisted of two green role tops (not what you would expect in a field) and a bunch of really nice XC fences along with a bank, ditch and water. She was a little spooky coming into the big bright green show jump role tops but she went over them. She jumped the next two great and then came the bank which she usually has no problem with. Chels said she was looking at the flowers and stuff that were on the bank next to the one they were jumping and she wasn't focused on her bank. Although sticky she did get over it. The next jump caused a bunch of horses issues and she was no exception but she did get over it and then finished the course galloping through the water, over the ditch and over a log to a long uphill gallop. She was amazing!!!!

The rest of the week we watched some amazing rides and I got to hack and work Kizzy over the wonderful grounds. She was so good and it really gave me so much confidence that she really is going to be my next special horse. She is aimed for BN at the Aspen Farms event then she will be done for the year except for derbies, schooling shows and things like that.

We will have all winter to get myself and her confident over fences and more polished on the flat and next year we will hit the ground running:)

Leaving for Montana!

Well after a lot of hard work and a bunch of fun Kiz and Chels leave for Montana tonight at midnight. They will arrive in Montana with plenty of time to settle in and get some schooling in. Cindi and I will be leaving on Tuesday then stay throughout the whole event. I think it is going to be an awesome trip and a great experience for my young mare. I have been having such a great time. My lessons on the flat have been going great with her responding to my aids especially when I give them correctly. This is always something I will have to work on. I need to get my body to give clear precise aids instead of muddy ones. I have to make sure when I ask for something I get it. Chels has been jumping Kiz in the ring and out on XC and although she likes to check out what she is jumping she is a good jumper. She even did the ditch yesterday with no issues. I am very excited to get jumping again and I am hoping when everybody gets back Cindi and I can start jumping again. I would love to show Kiz myself towards the end of the year. My aim is Aspen Farms. I think that would be a great show for me and her to do together since she is used to it and so am I. I feel it would make it a great experience for both of us...

I am planning on running a 10K at the end of September before we go the the WEG's so I am really working on eating better and running. I hope all this work gets me ready for the run and in better shape for riding.

Well my next post will be after the event so hopefully I have a bunch of great news!!!

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.....