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
We recently had our first outdoor jumping lesson of the year. Actually, it is the only real outdoor jumping we’ve been able to do because every other time we’re planning on riding outside, it rains. #WisconsinLife Smaller heights to acclimate to the jumps that were just set up in the outdoor arena. Nice and easy, … More Video: First Outdoor Jumping of 2016
In my lesson last week, Drifter was pretty lazy and dopey. I was actually pretty happy about this because the last three weeks or so, he’s been pretty spooky and revved up – particularly in one stupid corner where, apparently, there be dragons. (Screw you, winter in Wisconsin!) Anyway. He mostly ignored the Dragon Corner … More Drifter Jumps Like a Big Boy
Over the weekend, I had a jumping lesson on Drifter. He has been coming along so well, even after having three weeks off around the holidays while I was traveling, dealing with the awful mud we’ve been having and the fluctuations this week from sub-zero to 40-degree weather. It’s enough to make even the sanest person go … More Drifter: A Jumper in the Making
Learning When Not to Push It It has been 6 days since my tumble off of Joe. The first three days, I was so sore that I was taking at least 3 Advil every promptly every 4 hours, taking extra vitamin C, and alternating heat and ice on my back, neck and shoulders. At one … More Learning When to Push It
You know that old wise saying, “when you fall, you have to get right back on?” Yeah, well, I think there’s something missing. When you fall, you get right back in the saddle. And then you go home, take a hot bath and eat Advil like it’s candy. I fell off Joe last night. Hard. … More Oh Hi, Dirt. Nice to See You.
What a fun day! It started so early with a 3:30 AM alarm (ugh) but it was totally worth it since there were a lot of scary things to see and work through in the warm-up. We arrived at the fairgrounds just before 6 AM and got on right away. Good thing — those cows, … More County Fair Open Show
Sunday was a schooling show at Crossroads and it was a great day! There were four of the equestrian team members showing (including me), and it was one of the other girls’ first show ever. Everyone did a great job. The other three girls were all showing in the same classes and did awesome, taking … More Show Day at Crossroads Farm
All day long I was watching the weather and hoping, hoping, hoping the weather would stay nice for my riding lesson. Clouds rolled in, but the rain held off as I pulled into the barn. There were girls out in the arena even as it started sprinkling a little bit. Nothing we couldn’t handle if it meant … More Stormy Summer Weather
Centered in the Saddle 