Or did Groundhog day already happen this year, and spring has come?! I don't know what it's like where you all live, but it was 60 degrees and sunny the past two days. Talk about lovely riding weather :) Yesterday, I decided to jump a tiny little cross-rail, do some canter poles, and then move the cross-rail up to a roughly 2-foot vertical. Limerick was so adorable and excited to jump, and we had a ton of fun! I also figured out that my jumping problems stem from two issues. One, Limerick has a massive/powerful jump with a pretty insane bascule (when he's being normal), which is kind of hard to ride if you don't have a ton of jumping experience (read: me). Therefore, when I'm already up in two-point or half-seat heading to a jump, I get thrown even farther forward by his crazy jumping skillz.
Two, stirrup length. I have more trouble finding a comfortable length, and yesterday my knees were basically touching my eyeballs, making it extremely hard to balance... I know, my fault, but I convinced myself that I was more stable that way. NOT. I tried extremely hard to focus on staying still and not moving when he left the ground, but it just didn't work. We even cantered the cross rail a few times, which is still new and scary to me, though admittedly much smoother than trotting them. Finally, we did the vertical twice. I know this is the teensiest bit superstitious, but I can't set a certain number of times for doing something. For example, yesterday I said we would do the vertical until it felt smooth to me and wasn't super awkward to ride. That just happened to be two times, rather than something I determined beforehand. This is all because my friend Kate said that she and her horse were going to jump one more and be finished... Long story short, her horse was too tired, tripped immediately in front of the jump, crashed into it, and she went right over his head. She nearly had a concussion and couldn't ride for a few weeks, never mind the fact that she had massive scrapes from the rock-like footing at my old farm. So yeah, that's why I'm superstitious.
Anywho, on to today! I was in a crappy mood due to some sucky things happening at school and being a little bit rushed, so I really needed a good ride and to blow off some steam. Limerick read my mind and was so so good :) We didn't do much serious work, mostly just cantered around and practiced adjustability, which is quite a challenge. I got some feedback from Julie and Hillary that my stirrups looked super short in my videos from the other day, so I dropped them two holes, which helped a ton! I feel like my leg is flapping around, but I can also sit much deeper and have a little bit more leverage for when he pulls on me.
Unfortunately, Jazz is lame, so Kimmie chilled ringside while I worked and decided to take some goofy pictures. This post is going to be yet another photo dump, because our mission towards the end of the ride was to take fun pictures and try to capture awkward moments... then we went out to the front field (for the first time since CRAY) and she took a video of me cantering towards her, which was so much fun!!! I laughed and giggled and Lims was awesome :) Then we went and said hi to some cows, which didn't blow his mind in the least. Both parties just kind of stared at each other like "What are you? You are the weirdest looking creature I've ever seen." We called it a day after that and enjoyed some delicious pizza!
Here's what's coming up in the near-ish future:
Appointment at Rood and Riddle tomorrow to have a general wellness exam and figure out what exactly is causing all of his back problems and soreness
LESSON on Sunday
Hillary visits tomorrow-Sunday!!!!
Schooling day next Saturday at a local show barn :)
COWS
Turnout buddy, Levi
AWK
poor guy......
Please ignore my shiny butt
S-E-X-Y neck
He looks pissed because he was about to spook at Kimmie sitting on the fence...
Limerick was luckily much better (in comparison) on Monday! He was lazy and pulling the bejeezus out of my arms on downward transitions, but he wasn't hot and definitely didn't have rocket boosters. We did some transition work and some no stirrup posting and sitting trot, which my legs still hurt from! Then Kimmie came up to the ring and recorded some of the ride :) The first canter video (video #3) is wild and a little bit strung out, but please don't judge because I seriously felt like my arms were being ripped out and he was totally saying F**K you to the three-ring... Luckily, I was able to hold him together much better for the second canter video (#4) and kind of keep him packaged.
Unfortunately, due to a perpetually frozen outdoor arena and no indoor, Limerick has had a less than ideal work schedule of late (BOO). We've had snow and ice on the ground since Thursday and the temperatures have been frigid with unbearable wind. This sucky weather has not kept me from the barn, but it has kept us from doing more than walking, until Sunday... enter batshit crazy pony. Sunday, the ground was starting to thaw and was rather soppy, but the ring was still a frozen rock, so Kimmie and I opted to work in the front field, hoping to work off some of our horses' energy.
It's been so long since then that I don't remember all of the details, but the gist of it is that Limerick was seriously insane (for him... keep in mind that even his insanity is rather tame). He tossed his head and chomped on the bit, jigged, pranced, etc. Even though we were out there with Jazz, he was still insecure and kept looking around for him/going towards him when possible. He also threw himself into upward transitions and kind of exploded, trying to get his head down and run with me... super fun! That was about the time that I realized how precarious I felt and how potentially slippery the ground could be, so I asked Kimmie to hop on and see if she could get him to listen better and stop running around like an idiot. He tried the same crap with her, but she kept him together and let him run around in a controlled manner for a few minutes, which did wonders for his brain! Then I hopped back on and asked for one more canter transition, which he was good for, so I called it a day.
Meeting Jack for the first time!!
Snow :)
Snuggles (real name Jack)
Kimmie and Snuggles
He loves me
Me and Limmers. I'm wearing my weirdly awesome face mask
First, a funny that fits my cat, Rue, perfectly, except he would by lying in a jumble of broken glass or hanging from a ceiling fan...
The past couple of days have been a whirlwind of packing/unpacking/driving/running out to the farm, etc. I moved out of my dorm room on Monday and into a new AWESOME one that same day, which was rough to say the least... picture me and my dad carrying a rather large refrigerator up three flights of stairs and moving all of my belongings in the pouring rain. However, it was so worth it because my new room is amazing (as is my new roomie, who also rides!).
Monday, as I said, was an endless stream of packing and driving, but I did manage to make it out to the farm to give Limface a bath :) He was not happy with me, but he's so much cleaner and has a lot less dandruff, thank goodness! I washed his mane, tail, and body with Selsun Blue and then let him dry out in his cooler. Pictures of the pathetic pony:
CLEAN!!!!
Tuesday, Lim went back to CVF and I went back to school. It's definitely bittersweet. I missed my riding friends and my non-horsey friends from school, but at the same time I'll miss my family and Hill and Hue :( I wish I could have all of them at the same time, but then I guess I wouldn't be having the real college experience... Anyways, the haul down was luckily uneventful and went smoothly, with Limface loading and unloading like a champ, good boy! He was a little bit uneasy at CVF, but by the time I went back and rode a few hours later, he clearly remembered his sometime-home. He was perfect for our ride :) We walked around at first, enjoying the ridiculously unseasonable weather (global warming anyone?). Then we moved up to trot and did bunches of circles and serpentines, since he was the tiniest bit looky. Finally, we cantered around and did some cross-rails, which he was so good for! We ended with a little hack into the front field, where we cantered some until I remembered that the ground was sopping wet from the rain the day before....BOOOOO.
Unfortunately did not get to ride today, as it was raining and I barely ever got to leave my sorority house. Tomorrow is the first day of classes, which I have from 8-3:40 with an hour and a half break for lunch (hate my life). Luckily, Thursdays are my worst days, so it can only get better :) My school has sorority and fraternity recruitment starting tomorrow night through Sunday, so I don't know how much pony time I'll have, but I'm trying to get out of as many events as I can. I'll update as soon as I see Limmers again, but it probably won't be until Friday at the earliest :( Here are some pictures from our first ride back at CVF:
What I do with my spurs when I take them off mid-ride and have nowhere else to put them...
