I had a lesson on Stryder recently while his leaser, who usually rides in my lesson, was on vacation. (Lucky duck!) It turned out to be an enlightening lesson. I mean, they all are, but this one especially. I have become used to horses that require a more active ride, which means I don’t have … More Do Less
Having a good canter rhythm is one of the most important things while jumping, right? So why does it sometimes feel like an epiphany to realize that fact? Like, duh. In my last lesson, Artie and I had great rhythm going. Steady and mostly forward, and right up to the base of the fence (except … More Feel Da Rhythm
In my last lesson, I jumped Artie. He’s super fun! He has that awesome “yes ma’am” attitude. As Trainer B put the jumps up she said it would be quite a bit higher than Artie is used to. I think that put it into my subconscious that we would be jumping “high.” And Artie was awesome! … More Perspective
So I fell off last week. It was fairly dramatic, yet also anti-climactic, and I wasn’t hurt. I was riding Prada, who, despite having already experienced several unplanned dismounts from, I still quite like riding. She’s fun and fancy when I stay on. Anyway. It was my first real jumping lesson after a long break from … More Delayed Onset Anxiety
You guys. I am so excited about this. Recently, my new trainer texted me and a group of girls who lesson and/or own horses out at the barn. “You guys want to do a book club? We’d get this book and do different exercises each week.” And I was like, hell yes I would! Combining my two … More Horse Book Club
I knew it was going to be an interesting lesson when I got the following text from Trainer B: You’ll be on Prada Thursday night. She’s a bitch to tack up so please be careful. I felt I should clarify what that meant for my own personal safety. Apparently I could expect Prada to both … More Just Call Me “The Spider Monkey”
The title of this post may be a tad dramatic. The gymnastic exercise we did was a ton of fun, but it was deceptively tricky. However, no one died. I was riding Artie again, and he is just a gem! Here is the general, not-to-scale, quick PowerPoint edition of the jumps: It doesn’t look so hard, right? … More The Grid of Death
I have officially begun my foray into the world of eventing. That’s right: I took my first riding lesson at the new barn. I rode a lovely, massive draft-cross named Stryder. He is a gray Percheron crossed with…something. No one is quite sure, apparently. But he is a sweetheart and just goes right along. The … More First Lessons in Eventing
It’s been a challenging month or so with Drifter. I haven’t wanted to write much because I felt I needed to work through things before writing about what I now call our “creative differences.” Also, I didn’t really realize that I’d actually kept it bottled up until I got a little teary in a lesson and … More Overcoming Creative Differences
As I reviewed the photos taken at our last show, I realized something. The position of my back is terrible when landing off a jump. I mean, really bad. I think this realization was so stark because I’d also just finished watching a video of the winning rider in an equitation final, so of course she looked … More Baby Got Back (Problems)
Centered in the Saddle 