Canter into Doom
August 22, 2019
It cracks me up every time Trainer B talks about the Canter into Doom. I can’t help imagining cantering into to Mount Doom. … More Canter into Doom
Category: Lessons Learned
Yay, I Rode Again!
July 26, 2019
Last week I got to ride a new-to-me horse, SB, in a dressage lesson. It did not inspire confidence when my trainer came up prior to my ride and said, “I’m interested to see if he behaves.” …Cool. … More Yay, I Rode Again!
Indoor XC Practice
December 24, 2018
Our last lesson of 2018 was a doozy in the best way. It was a sort of year-end celebration/day to mark the end of my lease on Duke. Trainer B put the jumps up and pulled out the scary skinny so we could do some XC-style practice in our indoor. We started out with something … More Indoor XC Practice
Swapsies
December 14, 2018
We had a very fun lesson last night with lots of tight turns, interesting jumps and shouts of “more leg!” And then, at the end, my lesson mate G and I swapped horses. Because why not? It was a blast! G’s horse, The Chief – yes, The Chief – is super different than Duke. His bascule is … More Swapsies
Canter. Corner. Contact. Lead.
July 20, 2018
I had a magical jump lesson this week. Perhaps life-changing. We shall see over time. But dang, it was super cool. First, some background. When I was on my honeymoon, my barn hosted a clinic that neither I nor Trainer B could attend – but through those who did ride in the clinic she learned … More Canter. Corner. Contact. Lead.
And We’re Back
March 29, 2018
Duke is officially done with bitless riding! We had a dressage lesson last night and it was fantastic. I felt really great about how I rode – not perfect but pretty solid – and I was able to make some small changes that really improved the connection. Duke feels super. He recently had a massage, … More And We’re Back
Adventures in Bitless Riding
March 23, 2018
As we all remember because we’re scarred by imagining horse molar earrings Duke had a molar removed recently. He was on a regimen of handwalking/taking lots of cute selfies for a week and can now go back undersaddle. Bitless. Thankfully he’s such a good egg. We rigged up this bitless Micklem contraption that has been fine. … More Adventures in Bitless Riding
First Jump Lesson of 2018
January 12, 2018
Leave it to Trainer B to make up the twistiest, turn-iest, loopiest course ever when given a setup with an outside line, an outside single and three diagonal singles. You could make this pretty hunter-y by doing outside line home (when home is the left side of the image), diagonal oxer away, single oxer home, … More First Jump Lesson of 2018
That Time I Got a Black Eye on Cross Country
August 21, 2017
I ended last weekend with a second place ribbon and a black eye. We were able to school cross country after the CT on Saturday and on Sunday afternoon as well. Saturday was fabulous! We did up and down banks (in the “water” complex, which was without water), a ditch to a coop, the whole … More That Time I Got a Black Eye on Cross Country
In Which Everyone’s Hearts Stopped for a Sec
May 13, 2017
I had a jumping lesson with Duke on Thursday night, our last one before the show on Sunday. It was…um, varied. Short version: I stayed on through a hairy moment, and made huge improvements in my riding. Long version follows. So we weren’t messing around with jumps that night. Everything pretty much went right up to … More In Which Everyone’s Hearts Stopped for a Sec
Centered in the Saddle 