I left you all last time with all the excitement of going XC schooling.
Yeah, that didn't happen.
Rain cancelled it.
Probably for the best, since I'm broke and that trip would've sucked me dry until the next payday. NEVER FEAR. A woman here with a small XC course is going to let me school before I go off to Longview. Better than nothin!
In addition to some INSANE thunderstorms and torrential rain a few days ago, we were blessed with a beautiful snowstorm exactly 24 hours after we were laying out on decks, sipping cocktails, enjoying the EIGHTY FUCKING DEGREE WEATHER.
GET IT TOGETHER MOTHERNATURE. Jesus.
I froze my ass off yesterday at the barn. Like, I'm pretty sure I have frostbite. And I'm almost positive the horses were close to colic since their poor bodies were being thrashed around with the insane weather fluctuations.
I really loathe the midwest.
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| Sweating in shorts yesterday...freezing in jackets today. WTF |
To add to the fun, we played musical horses and I failed miserably at attempting to ride another beast.
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| Us, on our own horses at first |
I blame his massive size and ridiculously huge stride. (Yankee looks bigger in the above pic, but thats an illusion. This horse is like, 17.2, and big and beautiful. Also an OTTB)
The owner of the beast of course made Yankee look amaze balls and I was like stahp it.
Luckily Yankee was a darling for me too and we worked on stretchy trot and self carriage. HEY-O
I've never felt uber comfortable on other horses, partially because I've always owned and ridden my own exclusively for long periods of time. They put up with my shit and vice versa. Comfort zoned.
Whenever I ride/rode Isis, Fancy or Pronto I feel/felt awkward and floppy. Mutiply by ten on this horse I rode yesterday.
Actually very jealous of people like Jackie and Jessie who are superstars at catch riding. They can ride ANYTHING. I wish I had had more chances to catch ride and be more versatile. I felt most confident in my riding when I owned 5 horses and rode them all each day. I was very practiced at switching my riding style and of course was insanely fit. Even when I rode for NSF with all the babies, they made me mrs conscious and ultimately a better rider.
But for the most part, I've been exclusively riding Spirit or Yankee for the last 10 years.
Crazy.
The weather here sucks as well. :( Stupid Mother Nature. Catch riding is so hard I agree though. I ride my moms horse some times when she is on vacation and I'm like "I can't even find the canter button!" WTF But it does get easier with practice. If only we had an endless amount of time to ride an endless supply of nice ponies... :)
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel...I feel totally lost on any horse except Gatsby. Definitely need more work there.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they were extra fussy with the sudden weather change. I used to only ride trail with whichever horse was available, now I am so uneasy on new horses, even if I know they are well behaved. I think a big part is age and fitness level, I bounce less and have more responsibility.
ReplyDeleteI tend to ride better on other horses... maybe because it's usually in a lesson format lol. Shouldn't be hard on yourself - your seat looks beautiful in all the pictures.
ReplyDeleteAgreed on weather suckage - we're having an Easter Nor'easter here... precipitous temperature drop, giant winds and inches of rain with tide all over the road. So.over.it.
So not jealous of your weather. Like, at all.
ReplyDeleteSNOW?! Holy crap. Mother Nature is definitely going through something... Menopause? Talk about a cold-snap. We haven't gone back to snow. Just rain and now 30* nights.
ReplyDeleteYeah the weather sucks!!! Walking to the barn puts us at risk of drowning in our own yards! So much RAIN!
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at catch riding either! It takes me a few rides to get in the groove with a different horse. Maybe we need to do more of that.
Our weather is the same....I am lucky with 4 horses and my friend has like - 12, that I ride every now and then. Definitely helps!
ReplyDeleteAt least up here we're starting to warm up consistently without the huge changes! That's no fun at all.
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