Three of the BEST days Ever, in a Row.

Thats right. Three. THREE AMAZING DAYS all in a row, and I didn't even have to leave Canada!

Im going to start with Day 3, because its today, and because I PASSED MY L4 FINESSE AUDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep. That happened. All the gods and Karma's and Universes that be, Bless Mo, thy saviour horse, who ALWAYS pulls my S%$t together when I need her to, and teaches me every lesson when she needs me to learn. My goodness I LOVE MO! We are officially fancy enough to be Black String Bearers!! Much more coordinated with my fancy black pony, dontcha know ;)

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

So thats today. Now to try and focus on the rest of the amazing - because trust me, it was amazing!

I will go back to day 1 - more Mo amazingness :D [Mo-mazing...?]

Saturday when I woke up it was awful weather. I have to say, the day did NOT start out feeling like it was going to be an amazing day for the history books.  It was cold and rainy and windy!! None the less, Mo and I were going to be brave. We waited all week for this day!

What grand adventure were we off to? Fox Hunting of course! What more could you ask for, than some pseudo-British weather when we want to try our hand at a British sport!

With a pit stop in Russell to pick up Roxy and Tristan, we were off, in the thankfully-tapering-off drizzle! We pulled into the Hunt Farm and got ourselves all registered. I think we were the only ones out of the people who did sign up for the Invitational Hunt, to actually show up - because of the weather! I am so glad we did though!

After getting ourselves sorted out, we unloaded the ponies and tacked up in the windy drizzle. Mo was her usual self, eating grass while this went on, but when I moved her feet I could tell she was feeling some energy. Who wouldnt on one of the first cold days, with the wind coming and all the other horses feeling it too!

Once I got on Mo I could really feel her energy up! She was BUZZING! Responsive, but very aware of everything. We sat and had our Stirrup cup [I had lemonade instead of port :) ] She surprised me when the hounds came out by doing nothing. She was absolutely FASCINATED by them! Which was a trend that continued for the whole ride. Every time they were in view, it didnt matter which direction we were travelling, she was looking at the hounds. Let me tell you how good our shoulder in was by the end of the day.... Ha!

In Hunting there are 3 fields of horses that go - there is First field, which are the ones that follow the hounds closely, galloping and jumping everything in their way. Second field goes slightly more moderately paced, trotting and cantering, with alternate routes around the jumps. First field mostly walks and trots, observing from farther away. Laura, Roxy and I opted for second field. Speed, but options :) I like it. Second field is where we rode in the summer on the "mock hunt" trail rides too, so I knew what to expect... sort of!

Second field was perfect pace. I really enjoyed it. Mo was SUPER riled! Basically the most adrenalized I have ever felt her, but still connected and responsive. It was such an odd combination! There were moments when she just COULD not stand or walk, so we did a bunch of passage/piaffe but it was all without me holding her back.... It was outright odd! I would just sit in my body and think " you can do what you want, in this box, but dont leave" and she would trot on the spot, poll high, bum low, super rhythmic and nice.... but just very emotional about it. It was sooooo soft. Just not calm! I refused to hold her up/back with the reins, so she held herself, but she stayed and thats what happened....

I remember thinking later, that I should probably do something to interrupt the emotional pattern, but in the moment it was just SUCH a cool feeling that all I did was set it up and ride it.... whoops ;) So we bounced our little way around the hunt field. There was regular walking and trotting to of course! And cantering! And galloping!

Im pretty sure the big horses were not galloping.... but Mo for sure was! It felt like the fastest we ever went - and it was extra fun because it was in a group with my friends and through a big corn field :D

FLY LIKE THE WIND MO!

I had so much fun :D I kept smiling and laughing [and because of that, ate a bit more mud that I really wanted to] and poor Mo's little white face was fairly mud colored by the end!

After the riding part, Mo and Tristan got to go stay in Laura's very swanky new barn and get spoiled there while we all got spoiled with FOOD! There was a DELICIOUS supper provided and tons of dessert! We all went home happy, tired and full! What a superb day!

After such a great day, Mo and I came home and found out we lost Phyr.... how? I dont know yet, because I havent had time/daylight to investigate, but when we got home late and in the dark, Zephyr was no where to be found!! After much searching and calling she finally crashed out of the woods in the back corner from the WRONG FIELD! GAH! Phyr child.... what she did to get over there and why she was there, who knows.... at least she came back!

So one tired Mo was re-united with one slightly stressed out Phyr and all was happy.

Sunday morning dawned much brighter and nicer than Saturday! Sunday was to be a big day too! I had thought long and hard on Saturday about  what to do - I had scheduled a lesson with Farrah Green for my self for Sunday morning. After our ride the day before though, I didnt think it would be fair to take Mo into another physically challenging endeavor. Which meant Zephyr was nominated!!

Time for the little kid to grow up, go on a trailer ride all by herself and have a lesson in an indoor arena for the first time ever! OH BOYY!!!

Zephyr totally blew my socks off. I cant even say how proud of her I am! She marched herself right on that trailer, all by herself, came off DRY and calm, and waited while I brushed her all up and then walked right into a strange arena while the previous lesson finished up! WOW! WHAT A KID!

I was actually really glad we had some extra time to settle because as good as Phyr was being, she *was* tight for her. So we played touch it and explored the arena a little bit in the ways that we could without disturbing the other person. There was a mirror in one corner that made her go "WASSAT!" but other than that she was pretty brave once she touched everything.


When it was actually our lesson time, Zephyr was spot on. I decided I wanted help on how to figure out how to help her not feel like I was "making" her do everything - even at phase one! I got some great strategies - 1] breathe and release with every step on the yo-yo. Keep going, but time your breathing to one foot. This made an immediate difference for her! I was really surprised! She is such a sensitive thing, that such a subtle thought really affects her!

On the both the circle and the yo-yo we played with maintaining a rhythm. Not just blah blah blah, but the walk I would like to ride, or the back up I would like to ride, or the trot... etc...  Even just changing my focus to be looking for rhythm and doing in my body what I would do if I were riding really caused Zephyr to change!

The we played with maintain gait at the trot - every time she broke we would change direction and send again until it was her idea to keep going. Canter transitions, which have been sticky for us got much easier and clearer! Instead of a helpful drive [my thought] we changed to a follow the feel porcupine up into the canter, which my genius child got right away. Because she is a genius! Her transitions were also GORGEOUS and uphill - which is something she struggles with!

We talked about how not to expect her to maintain that until its easy to maintain the trot forever and the transitions come easy - going to neutral with Zephyr is always my challenge because she tends to get lost and emotional out on the line and then either comes up with naughty thoughts or just robots and runs... so that was really perfect to have Farrah see her and get input on it. We played also with a little bit of just can you canter and using the same change of direction strategy and then when the attitude [can you see me!?!?!] came out, I would just support it in a friendly way, to let her know I saw her and was still there.

We also played with a little spanish walk towards the end, but there was some kafuffle with another horse and Phyr was not about to focus on something so small and ignorable, so Farrah just did simulations with me, and I will play with it with Phyr this winter :)There was also some sideways trotting in there somewhere - first time I ever asked her to trot sideways, and voila! Ha!

Phyr spent the rest of the day while I watched the rest of the lessons, by herself in a little paddock [thanks Garry!] happily grazing. When it was time to go home, she happily loaded up and rode quietly home. She unloaded PERFECTLY, didnt even call to Mo, and walked back into the field all " Did you see, Mo? I got to GO today and you had to stay here :P " I could seriously see her gloating. It was so funny.

The biggest thing I learned yesterday with Zephyr was that I can stop babying her !!!! Farrah says we are close to a L3 audition - so my goal is to pull that out now :) I cant believe that, but YEY Phyr! In my head she is still my baby, but its true, I CAN stop babying her and expect a little more from her now :)

So thats my last three days. Both of my ponies blew my mind, and then I got the email that compounded everything time a million :D

:D
S

The Phyr Child is Growing Up!!

Somehow, over the past two years of having Zephyr in my life, she has been growing up... In the beginning, she was such a cute little kid. Last year she was kind of a funny looking middle sized kid - being all super downhill and such. This year she was still really downhill, but much bigger and starting to look more like a horse than a baby. She still has lots of growing to do, she is only three and three months old. But she is amazing. And wonderful. And SUCH a great teacher!

There are times when I forget she is a baby. The lightness of her responses and the quality of her tries, just blow me away. I and working so hard not to put anything into her that she doesnt need to know. Sometimes, that means I do less with her than maybe I could, but it all pays of, so I am not worried about what we maybe "should" be doing by now. We go at our own pace, and learn together with success!

Today was really a culmination of all that preparation for me. We have really been playing with building a stretchy trot online - because she tends to be rather stiff necked and bracy just about moving forward in general. Causing her to think down was NOT an easy task! I had to get very creative, because if I got in close to her and started trying to move her body around, I was likely to get an exuberant and playful hoof in the stomach. Not my cup of tea. I started with trying to influence her from a distance, but she just got confused and went faster, so it was time to think outside the box.

I would take her out into the hayfield, where the grass is long and delicious looking and ask her to trot until she really wanted to stop and eat grass. Then I would allow her to stop on the circle and eat grass. It was hardly any time at all before she was stretching her neck down for the grass, but maintaining forward movement. Today was the ultimate test! She carried the stretch for over a lap in the hay field, and then when we came back into the playground after saddling [during which she was a total champ!] I asked for the stretch where there was no tempting grass and VOILA! Stretchy Phyr! YEYYY!!!! My plan is working!!!

So online warmup was SUPER today. Just perfect. She is getting better at canter transitions in general, but still a little sticky once saddled. We played with it some, and it got better, but definitely still something to push to get better. Once I felt good online [only one squeal, and a half hearted buck!] I brought her over to the mounting block and hopped up.

She was a total PRO! Stood like a statue, and came around for lateral flexion pretty much when I thought about it! She is so sensitive when she wants to be! We walked off really nice and played with some point to point in the back with the barrels. Walk first, then trot. Lots of licking and yawning! I rode with the carrot stick to, which Zephyr likes I think, because I can be more clear without having to add more to her halter.

Then came the miracle moments. I went over and dropped the stick at the mounting block and thought "We should canter back to Mo" and POOF we did! It was only the second time we ever cantered before, EVER! Then we went back to our point to point barrels and continued the theme of canter departs. Really thinking about changing my picture from trot feel to canter feel [not just add speed for faster trot] and causing her to catch on to that, rather than "lets canter a whole bunch". Its not about the canter! Zephyr was amazing. Of course we had a few miscommunication moments, but nothing horrendous, and she was trying so hard anyways! The last two were PERFECT and she settled into a lovely forward canter !!!! Holy moly can little horsey canter BIG!

Overall, I could NOT be more proud of my Phyr. SHE ROCKED MY WORLD!!! I LOVE ZEPHYR!!!! She is so smart, so sensitive, so clever! Now, I just have to make sure I dont screw her up :D

SUCH a good morning!!!!

:)
S

Mo The Champion

[this was supposed to be posted before previous post, but it got saved as draft somehow]

So a few weeks ago, me and Mo went to a show called a Combined Test. I never really knew these things existed before hearing about this one, and since it was about five minutes away from my house, I was game to try. Essentially, you ride a dressage test and then jump a stadium course. Based on your scores from both, a division winner is decided.

I decided just a few days before the show to enter Mo. We chose the smallest division - an Entry level dressage test and a 2'3 jump course, because I didnt really leave us much practice time. It was the Friday of this weekend that I filmed my Finesse Audition, so I felt pretty ready to ride a dressage test.

The day before the show it rained non-stop. I am not kidding, it just rained and rained and rained some more! I was starting to think I would have to teach Mo the backstroke to get to X! Due to the rain, there was no practice on the day before. Luckily, Sunday dawned nicely.

We were pretty much the only trailer-in competitor, other than Jeanette and Toby. Which meant we had plenty of space to warm up and play. Warm up and online play went really well. Short but intense and focused. Then it was time to braid and saddle up! Mo looks so fancy all braided up and with her fancy white saddle pad! Our warm up ride got to run long because things were a little behind, but thats ok. We played with transitions and sideways and canter-walk transitions. Mo was really happy and confident in the bridle, and happy to move forward because it was a chilly day!

Then it was our turn!! We trotted around the arena a few times before we were called in. During one of our rounds the judge said hello and complimented Mo! How nice is that? :) When the bell rang [it was actually a duck call because the bell was being drowned out by the wind, ha!]  we were close to the gate and I opted to head in. Probably a bad move, because we lots rhythm and straightness suffered. Oh well!

Luckily, I had Amanda calling for me, even though I had the test memorized, because then I could just focus and ride :) Mo was great. I was and am SO proud of her! She was rhythmic and consistent and responsive! We broke our canter on the second circle, but otherwise I felt really really good about everything else. Snappy transitions, nice direction and circles and relaxation, most of all!

Coming out of the test I felt really happy. Thats what was the best part. I was so proud of Mo, and she was still happy! I took her to the sidelines to watch Jeanette and Toby do their round. They did great too! After both tests we headed back to the trailer to get the ponies some well deserved hay snacks and find ourselves some lunch!

While on lunch the results for our first class were released.... MO GOT FIRST!!!!!!!!!!! I was basically beside myself with pride! Mo was so amazing that even the judge noticed! In the comments section there was a note that said NICE HORSE in all caps :D What a nice judge! We scored a 71% on our test!

Mo got a big red ribbon and even a bag full of horsey treats :D She was obviously very tired after such an effort....

After lunch it was time to warm up for jumping. Mo did her classic and over jumped everything from the long spot in the warm up. It was ok, I am getting better at riding it at least. Then it was our turn!

Into the jump arena we went. It was a very tight twisty turny course, but Mo is good at that. There were lots of Mo eating flowers, which Mo wildly over jumped, but we lived. Because she was a little spazzy I opted to ride again, and the second time out was SO MUCH BETTER! I was just happy that Mo was able to maintain more rhythm and fowardness through the course !

Happy with our effort, but totally not expecting a ribbon [ I actually forgot our second round could still count] we went back to the trailer to untack and get many scratches. When I came back to watch the little kids go, the score keeper/ ribbon giver found me and told me that MO WON! AGAIN!!

Some how, Mo got the optimum time!! I didnt even know what it was, but somehow she got it! WAY TO GO MO!!

Mo got FIRST in both of our classes!!! Which means she was CHAMPION in our division!!! How cool is that?

Not only our first, first place ribbon, but there were two of them AND a fancy giant Champion ribbon!

Mo rocked my socks the whole day and it paid off :D YEY MO!!!

:D
S

Mo the Teacher

Mo has, and will always be one of my most influential teachers, but today was especially poignant for me.

This morning we had a great play online after a slightly mopey catch-me time. Yesterday I let them out in the very grassy back pasture, so this morning when I called them up for breakfast, no one was interested - surprise, surprise! It was pretty funny really. When I went down to walk them up, Zephyr came over from about 100 feet away, said hi and do you have any cookies, but left when she found out the answer was no! Mo was over behind her, and when I started to walk to Mo, Zephyr got re-interested, but when I ignored her she got offended and left [the indignity of it all!] As Mo figured out that I was talking to her, she came over and we walked together up to the barn for her brekky. Zephyr only noticed that Mo got food about 15 minutes later as I was brushing Mo. So she did get hers, just belatedly - silly goof.

So me and Mo headed out to play, on a 22' with some zone five driving, that is always something Mo seems to worry about. It is not my strong suit, and though I know we have enough of a foundation in it to make our L4 audition pass, I have decided it might be something I would like to refine a little more. I had the line draped over her back, and I was really looking for her to tune into where my belly button was pointing to direct her, and then I could support with the stick if I needed to. I kept it simple, just a few circles or a figure eight near to the barn. Something easy and confidence building. There was lots of licking and chewing, and even a few blow outs. I was happy with that!

From there I played with refining my communication with zone 1 in the send for sideways. Mo got really energetic about that and trotted and cantered sideways a bunch. Then we played with extension/collection on a circle. That was super interesting! She got some really cool extension AND in our collection portion - we almost got piaffe!!! just a half step or two, but it was almost there! Definitely something to keep playing with.

I decided that today would be bareback balance day. The last few times I have actively ridden bareback, things felt iffy, so I thought today would be a good chance to assess that and check out whats really going on. I got some savvy strings for reins - because I still want to play with lightness, and hopped up [from the fence]

We walked and trotted, I checked my balance point, I made an extra effort to check and make sure I wasnt gripping with my knees and everything felt great. Mo felt good, I felt in sync with her, I was really happy with that. When I felt good with everything at low speed, I asked Mo up into the canter and then she got all weird. I was really confused at first. She got her neck all curled up, she wouldnt move forward, it felt like she was bouncing on the spot, and she actually did buck for real at one point. I kept just using one rein to shut it down and asking her to go, but still trying to figure out WHY she was doing that. Something obviously wasnt good for her in the canter.

I tried to figure out if her back was in pain - but no, that should show at the trot more for the bouncy. Maybe my locked hip was blocking her? Again, no, nothing at the trot. And then it hit me - The canter transition had me gripping with my knees!! I told Mo that I wanted to work on my bareback balance, and here was her feedback! So up into the canter we went again, with me consciously trying not to grip with my knees and leg, and there was less of the 'cant go forward'. Excellent.

So we played with that, until we could transition and canter without my brain being useless. And then when I got off - the swirly hairs I usually find under my legs werent there! No brace-no rubs !

Once again, Mo has been my wonderful teacher. How I love my pony!

:)
S