I was feeling quite lazy after a full day of work & a grueling 30 minute run, so I went sans saddle and riding gear (pants, boots-->sweats, tennis shoes). Slightly frowned upon by BO, but since I am quite capable of bareback riding & could care less about barebackin' it in tennis shoes, I do it. If you think thats horrible, when I was in high school, I rode in a bikini top, shorts and no shoes. Yes in a saddle. No I never got rubbed...I dont know how. Yes I wore a helmet.
I digress.
Yankee was a freaking BEAST tonight. Ive never had a better dressage school on him actually and the other lady in the ring with me actually said I was a very sensible rider who seemed to know how to train a horse to do proper dressage (and that Yankee was just awesome-sauce). I like to think so.
Since I was feeling the most lazy, I thought a relaxing warm-up/ride with long and low work and lots of lateral movement would be just peachy. Plus, it was SEVENTY degrees and I was sweating. Mind you, it was like 12 degrees yesterday. WHAT the fuh.
Yankee was probably the most relaxed I have ever felt him, and he was ON his A game today. Perfect transitions, uh-mazing stretchy trot, swinging back and engaged hocks. Beautiful.
He looked a lil' somethin' like this
(Some of you might recognize this pair. Hilarious that I googled "stretchy trot circle" & the writer of "Now Thats Trot"s blog picture popped up).
Basically an amazing ride.
I also feel obligated to inform you all that Yankee is now a half-leased ponyface.
GASP, right?
I tried leasing him out my sophomore year whilst I was injured for 9 months, and it didnt work out to my advantage. Partially because he was in OH while I was in MO, which is why I found a lovely rider here in CoMO to lease the rest of this winter and summer.
The deal is, that I would like to ride/work with him 1-2 days a week and she gets him at least 3 other days or more. Being worked everyday is not his thing, so he will get a day or two off. I set some guidelines of what I want done with him and whatnot.
I am paying for all of his bills since he IS my horse and she is doing me a massive favor by working with him and SHOWING him over the summer since I cannot afford to, and don't have as much time. Its basically the perfect situation for both of us since I can afford to take care of him but barely do more than 3 shows a year. So I will take him to the first event of the year and do some jumper shows with him, but basically Jackie will have full rein (haha, horse pun) with his event showing this summer.
I'm really excited to see how this goes! She is extremely capable and I wouldn't have chosen her if I didnt think they were a good match. Not many people can keep my wiggle TB engaged and active, so I thought that was a pretty big win on her part.
Pictures and videos of our "Yankee intro" lessons to come :)
In other news. Class starts tomorrow. My life is basically over for 18 weeks.
18 weeks? Boo. Our semesters were 16, I thought. I don't think I ever counted though.
ReplyDeleteCool that the half lease is working out... though I'm still confused about why she isn't paying unless she's the perfect rider and is broke like the rest of us, lol.
Because I feel wrong asking someone to pay to ride and show my horse for me. We are doing each other favors. She gets a horse, I get my horse shown.
ReplyDeleteHey... I know that pair! And the photographer :-P Glad you had a good ride.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the most amazing ride ever. :D Glad you found someone to half lease him that works for both of you. I look forward to the pictures and videos!
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