We were on what felt like the millionth exercise to teach Berry and I lead changes. We started going down the long side, circling, leg yelding back to the rail, and asking for the change. The leg yeld was easy. The change was not, and wouldn't happen. I could sense Berry's annoyance. I ended up aski[...]
I kept my head, and didn't let my nervousness get to me. I call that a success! My trainer went up the night before with her horses/ponies/kids and everyone spent the night there. We helped the organizer set up the course, and I am impressed by her collection of jumps. I intended to ge[...]
This warm weather has been incredible, and inspired me to make the beautiful image above of trotting through a glorious meadow (just squint and use your imagination). Finally, I can emerge from my hovel, and get back to riding. Except that my poor Berry, who has been mostly idle for the duration of[...]
Today is the month I start taking monthly conformation pictures of my horses. Next month will be the month I start taking monthly conformation pictures of my horses and my pony, as he is not here right now. I have never actively tried to take a conformation photo of any of them, and it proved to[...]
I had an amazing ride on Saturday. Berry was so perfect, she was like an old school horse. She is clearly better at this course/jumping business than I am, and I am so thankful she doesn't take advantage of my floppy self. (although I've been promised lots of no stirrup work, so floppy will soon be[...]
The day has arrived - Berry and I's lesson focusing on learning our flying changes. Hilariously enough, Berry caught on way faster than I did, and I could sense her irritation at me not getting it right. We started with cantering a squared off figure eight, preparing for the change going through[...]
I finally rode! With the weather improving, I needed to make up for my lesson deficiency. It's only been three weeks, but it feels like it's been a lifetime since I rode last. It's not right. Anticipating that Berry would be a little bit crazy, I decided to head over there early so I would have[...]
I don't know how it happened. I brought her into the barn the other night, and a chunk was missing from her hoof. My farrier said this can happen when there's tons of moisture. I want to figure out how to prevent it, but I feel like I'm already following horse care best practices. She comes into a[...]
Berry is my weird horse. She does weird things, things that seem to have no reason, or make no sense. Sometimes I think she does them for her own amusement. This is one of those times. In fact, this was the first time I experienced her weirdness. I got her in 2011, and after some drama at the boa[...]
Really, I'm just waiting for winter to be over with. Although I'm sure I'm repeating what nearly everyone is thinking. It's too cold, my arena is frozen, my trainer's arena is frozen, I missed my last lesson because Dave let out the air in the truck tires (sabotage?!), and then every time I[...]