Life as a...rider:)

After finally dragging myself out of bed to go out to the barn, I hauled the pony, the mare, and Roff ( my sisters pony) out to Walnut Trace for a day of games, jumping, and dressage.

     ~  Ride numero uno-Ralah

               For those of you who don't know, Ralah is a Walnut Trace Farm mare that I am currently riding, competing, and trying to sell. Sometimes, her head is on straight, other times she can't even figure out what the word sane means. Today we went out to jump for the first time in two weeks...suicide attempt? I think yes. However, to my suprise she was a perfect angle. Got her leads, spots, and was balanced through turns without trying to dislocate my arms!

        ~ Splatter Painted Ponies? How about Splatter Minded Ponies

                 After a good little while without practicing with the team we finally get together. Hoping for the best we dive into practice with guns blazin' only to find ponies with anything but focus. No, it was not a bad practice, but with the wind blowing and the cold weather we spent more time settling the ponies than we did actually practicing. On the plus side of things, Patchie Pony was nice and speedy unlike usually, I myself was more accurate, and Abra was getting nearly perfect bending lines:)
        ~ The mare, a good dressage day? Unheard of!
                   After many many many bad dressage rides everything that the mare knows but doesn't think she knows has clicked. The mare, my 5 year old hormonal percheron X TB X appaloosa, has never been one to be light on her feet or felt the need to put any effort in when it comes to dressage. However, today she was actually amazing. For the first time I enjoyed doing dressage on her more than doing dressage on the pony. She has come from bucking every other stride at the canter to a perfect transition leading to a balanced, with using her back and flexing, canter. Thought we would never get there? Who's wrong now:)