I took Duke cross country schooling on Friday night. It was hot. Like. 98 degrees and probably 90% humidity. Everyone including Trainer B considered not going for like 1 second and then we rationalized that we should practice going in the heat anyway. It’ll probably be similar weather at each of our next few shows. Also, … More XC Schooling Evening
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
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
March is a busy time for me, especially this year. There are FOUR family birthdays this month, three of which occur within five days of each other. Two are on/around Saint Patrick’s Day, which is a big holiday in my life. Plus we’re getting closer to W Day and that means there are approximately 1,000 … More “They’ll Make Great Earrings”
As per usual, riding horses is really good at making me think I figured something out and then laughing in my face about it. As I explained in my last post, Duke likes to get hollow in his back and go around in a pretend long and low frame. This becomes extra apparent in downward … More Reverse Idiot Epiphanies
You guys ever have the experience while riding, where you suddenly have this epiphany about something that feels totally earth-shattering and then you say it out loud and you’re like. Oh. Duh. That happened to me recently. Some background. Duke had kissing spine surgery a little over a year ago. We like to baby his … More Idiot Epiphanies
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
This year, I get to half lease Duke! I introduced him last spring and even won a Starter CT on him after riding him, like maybe 5 times. (I know, I know, a huge accomplishment!) I had planned to compete him through the summer, but he got a nasty abscess that turned into a hole … More Meet Duke (Again)
I went radio silent about six weeks ago and to be honest, it was because I had a hard time confronting the end of the season and the end of my lease on Stryder. We had an incredible show and reached this super high peak of emotion…and then it was over. Done. Back to riding … More Radio Silence
Duke came up quite sore on his left hind about a week ago. Turns out it was a nasty abscess that blew out the back of his leg. All riding is on hold and he’s been pulled from a horse trials later this month. Thankfully there shouldn’t be any lasting damage and we should still … More Taking a Pause; aka Poor Duke
Centered in the Saddle 