Adjustment

Hillary here... Katherine has a test tomorrow and given the silence over here I decided to write a post on her behalf. :) Or Limericks - he knows that his many adoring fans need to know his happenings.

That said I don't think there is a ton to share. Limerick got ridden by G all last week while K was soaking up the rays in Turks. (To say that I am jelly would be an understatement). Anyways, I drove down today after my lesson to stay most of the weekend/ end of the week with Katherine. As you guys might know she and Limface will being making their debut at a combined test this weekend. How could I miss that? K said that I could ride Lims today as she needed to study. It was a lovely lovely day and I'm always game for another ride.

Riding another horse is always an adjustment, even if you have ridden them before, and I don't know Limerick's usual plan/ warm up. He felt pretty heavy to me initially but I guess that I didn't give him enough time to get going. I am used to picking up at least some contact right away with Houston because my trainer doesn't want me to let him ride around willy nilly but what works for Hue won't necessarily work for every horse. That said I think that once I realized the correct "feel" and hand to seat/ leg ratio we were on a roll.

At the walk I tried to get Lims soft and on the bit or accepting and reaching into my contact. He wasn't thrilled about my legs being on him but he got over it. For our trot work I did a lot of circles. I was having a hard time getting him to give me a real bend as opposed to dropping his shoulder and bending just his neck. I did eventually figure it out and get him to go with me instead of against me and it felt great. I was able to ask him for some leg yields as well. I did a lot of transitions when we got to the canter. I felt like he was throwing his head up/ out for the transition and I was getting pulled forward. It took me a minute to get him to transition smoothly down instead of abruptly. We even did a little bit of yielding at the canter. He was much more confident and flowy at the canter than the trot. Anyways overall Limmers had to work his butt and we had a nice sweat to prove it!

K did hop on to run through her dressage test for Saturday and I think they are going to do great. It is hard to learn a test without a real arena and letters. Or more accurately to feel confident in riding it when you aren't familiar with that setting but K handled it well and getting to practice tomorrow should help a lot.

Tomorrow we are off to Masterson Station to get K and L into a dressage ring and then we will get Limerick tucked away in his pony hotel at the horse park. Can't wait!

In other news K has had a few deliveries the past couple weeks. She bought a lovely show coat and thinline reins. I am quite jealous of the coat and was pleasantly surprised by the reins. Normally my hands can get a bit sore or achy when I feel like a horse is a bit heavy but that was not the case with these and they weren't slippery like I thought they would be.

Totally planning to force K to share these yummy treats her family sent for Easter. Not only are they really cute they smell decadent and hopefully will taste just as delicious as they smell.