Groom for the day.

Judy Whyte and Solo at their first show together.

Someday's it is just a lot of fun to be the person behind the scenes.  Yesterday my friend and dressage trainer Judy had her first show with her boy Solo.  Judy purchased Solo a little over a year ago as a very immature 4 year old.  Over the last year they have formed a beautiful relationship and I really think that Judy has found her partner.  It was time to get him out to a schooling show and see how he does in the show environment.  

So, my day started off with riding my girl Bella,  She was just a superstar.  I concentrated on bringing her shoulders up and letting her frame come up through the use of her shoulders not just pulling her neck frame higher.  It was a fantastic ride and I went through the 3rd level movements and thought to myself I could show this today!  But the day was not about Bella the day was about lil' Solo.  

After my ride on Bella I pulled Solo out and started getting him ready.  I love this part of my life.  I think I was meant to be a groom.  Grooming a horse is so relaxing to me and I think it is a great time to get to know the horse to form a relationship with them.  I also love a braided main.  Something so clean and smart about it. So, of course I had to braid Solo for his first outing.  He was such a good boy stood there and let me fiddle about and didn't move around at all. 

Then we were off to the show.  Solo was a bit high and excited when we get there but after showing him around the grounds he settled down.  We tacked him up and the rest of the show was perfect (at least from my perspective).  From what I could see Judy had a good warm up, a few 5 year old bobbles but by the end Solo was nice and relaxed and ready to do his test.  And what a lovely test they did it was relaxed and beautiful.  It's the kind of test that you wish you were riding.  Judy and Solo ended up receiving a 77% at Training Level test 2 and won the class.  I couldn't be prouder or more excited for them.  I think I might be a groom at one of the recognized shows next time!

Sometimes its hard.

Whew! That's what I have to say today about my lesson on Bella with Judy Whyte.  It was hard.  It was hard mentally.  It was hard physically.  It was hot outside too!

I love that Judy has such high expectations for Bella and me.  She pushes us to our limits and expects us to rise to all that she asks of us.  And boy can it be hard sometimes.  It was hard today.  Started the warm up and I was pushing Bella off her pace a little bit.  After the warm up Judy gets right down to business.  Bend, bend, bend, sit, sit, sit, steady, steady steady, push, push, push, engage, engage, engage, soft, soft, soft, sharp, sharp, sharp... there it is! Haha after all that and doing all that at the same time we have some moments of loveliness. And that is pretty much how the lesson continued and it pushed  me and it pushed Bella and it made us better.  And if we continue to follow through with all of it then we will continue to improve and before I know it we just might be ready to show Third Level.  Because that is the goal that I've set for myself with Bella.  So watch out 'cause I'm geared up after today's lesson and I will work my butt off and help Bella to be the best she can be!

Sometimes I have to brag about my Bella.

If you don't ride horses you may not completely understand why I'm so proud of my girl, but I'm sure you will appreciate the sentiment.  Bella has come so far with me.  I bought her over 7 years ago and the road has been quite a long one.  She has never been the easiest horse but I have come to love her and all her quirkiness.

Today I got on and started warming her up for my lesson.  Bella sometimes think she is a charging war horse and that is how she came out today.  Full of energy and activity just not channeling it properly yet.  That's where I come in, I use to try to stifle that side of her thinking she was taking over the ride or just being naughty but over time I learned that Bella needs to have her little fun and say too.  So I subtle ask her to start using her energy in a more constructive way and the end result can be quite lovely.

Judy had us working on a few things today.  Haunches in, turn on the haunches and flying changes.  Of course there were more elements in the ride but that's what our focus was today.  At the very end we asked for more collection maybe the start of some half steps.  Not sure if we are quite getting it right yet but I feel like we are headed in the right direction.  So I'm bragging on my girl just a little today because she makes me a very proud owner and rider and sometimes I feel like I could do anything and everything with her and that's a great feeling.

Can she do it?

Let me start this post by saying the journey with Bella has not been the easiest but somewhere along the way I think we both found respect and love for one another and now I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Today I had my lesson on Bella and if you've been reading my blog you'd know that we just came out of a sticky spot.  She was being quite a nasty girl because she hadn't been getting her proper dosage of hormones/drugs.  And during her nasty spell I was being overly demanding and riding to much through physical strength and not finesse.  But we have moved past that and the last two weeks things have just been getting better and better.  I really have been concentrating on using less of my hands and more of my seat and Bella is responding.

So in the lesson today we just built on the last two weeks and threw back in our flying changes.  We have worked on them a little through the winter but never consistently got them down either from weather or other issues.  But if we are going to be doing 3rd level any time in the future then we really need to get these down solid.  So after some really steady work we moved into doing the flying changes.  If Bella has one thing in common with me it is wanting to power through things and use strength.  She does this when she finds things difficult and little does she know that in the long run it will only make things harder.  So that is what she wants to do in her changes.  She grabs the bit, pulls her head up and charges away.  It's not very pretty!  But with Judy's guidance I was able to keep her rounder and much steadier in the connection and within a few attempts we had some pretty decent clean changes.  Yay Bella!

Now you might think that we are done for the day but nope much bigger things came about in today's ride.  Judy wanted to go through a 3rd level test but I don't have them memorized yet and she didn't have the booklet down at the barn.  So she runs up to the house to get the booklet and tells me to keep Bella engaged and not let her think we were done yet (once Bella thinks we are done for the day she totally goes into sleep mode).  So I gather up my reins and think to myself "keep Bella active" and what happens Bella offers some half steps.  I mean nothing that anyone else would probably be excited about but to me it was amazing.  So I kept my seat light but active and we went around doing kinda little half steps then walk and so on and so forth and Judy comes down and is like wow you really kept her engaged didn't even recognize you two.  (that put a giant smile on my face).

It just gets even better from here. Judy proceeds to read 3rd Level Test 1 to me and I say okay I got it.  And then I did.  I rode the entire 3rd Level test on Bella.  What?!  Bella, my girl who I never thought would make it past first level.  Bella who keeps telling me that she can do more.  Bella the horse who has a great work ethic but is also highly opinionated.  She makes me so proud.  She makes my heart happy.  Even if I never enter the show ring at 3rd level it was such a joy to ride it today and feel connected with my horse.  It was a joy to feel my horse give me her all.  So Bella I will never doubt you again. I will allow you to show me what you think you are capable of and I will also believe you when you tell me you have done enough.  It is a partnership and one that I cherish.

Wednesday was all about love!

Started the day off with a this great scripture verse and I think it set the tone for the rest of my day.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, Love Never Fails.

I Corinthians 13:7

This Wednesday just turned out to truly be an amazing day.  So let me take you through it for a bit.  On week 2 day 3 of 22 Minute Hard Corp and I really want to stay committed to doing this program so even though I had a pretty active day ahead of me I still got up and pressed play because I mean come on I can do it for 22 minutes.  Did Resistance 1 today and I do like this workout until the very end when you have to do the bonus round of fast feet, burpee, pushups!  Did it and felt pretty good afterwards. 

Then it was on to the barn for a lesson on Bella with Judy Whyte.  Needless to say we had a super awesome lesson and even went through a 3rd level test for the first time but I'm going to give Bella a post all to herself so I'll go into detail there.  But I was incredibly proud of my Bella for doing a test in a level that I never thought she would be able to.  Hard work has paid off there.

Then it was time for my personal training at Trinity Fitness with one of my favorite people my personal trainer Dona Batten.  I had a new workout today and was excited to see what was in store for me.  (the setup for my personal training is that I get a new program every month and build on it for the month)  I made a little video of some of my favorite moves today.  But I loved this workout and will be looking forward to doing it for the next 4 weeks!

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Wow! I'm tired!

It's the kind of day that keeps giving and going.  Woke up headed to the Dermatologist for a quick fix.  I get IPL for acne about every 4 weeks, between these and my at home skin care regimen, and my glycolic peels at work I'm able to keep my acne under control (but that's a post for another day).  Then I ran to the post office to send off a great prize for our last Challenge Winner.  I will share about that in a post tomorrow.  Needless to say it is always exciting to send prizes off!  Swung back to the house to pick up Zoskia to go to the barn with me.  Had a lovely ride on Miss Bella, who was a little tired today and needed some extra motivation to keep a nice jump in the canter.  Then had lunch with Judy, and she can make a mean salad!  Then Judy and I both run to the gym for our personal training.  It is about this point that I'm just not feeling great.  I started a new birth control pill a few days ago and I think my system is getting use to it.  So now I'm doing my personal training and I'm sluggish and tired and just want to take a nice nap.  But I did push through and ended up having a decent workout.  TGU's can do that for you.  After that I needed to go get an oil change so I go and do that, they need to replace a tail light but don't have it in stock so I run to the Auto Zone near by and buy the light bulb to bring it back to them so they can replace it.  Whew I mean do you see how this day keeps going and its not done yet.  Then I get home and really want to stick with my new program so I turn on 22 Minute Hard Corp and push play and do Cardio 1 and Core 1.  And that is when I took this photo.  I'm tired my hair is out of control but it's the kind of day where you will sleep good at night.  So here's to having a good nights rest!  

Harmony Between Horse and Rider

I read a lovely interview with one of the top dressage trainers in Great Britain, well actually the world.  And everything that I read made sense and I felt that I could apply it to my riding even though I'm not riding at the level of the horses and riders that they were discussing. So with that thought in my mind and went to the barn and proceeded to have a wonderful lesson on Bella with my trainer Judy Whyte.

Before we even started the lesson I was walking on a loose rein and telling Judy about the interview and she laughs because she had just read it that morning.  Well, that's good because I knew that everything that we both read was correct and that it would play a part in my lesson.  If you've been reading my blog you'd know that Bella and I have recently been going through a little sticky patch.  She was being hormonal (we realized the dispenser on her drugs/hormones had broken and she had not been getting any for a few weeks). And when Bella is hormonal she can be very difficult (so can I for that matter).  Well about 2 weeks ago I had a horrible ride and it was during a lesson with Judy and she had me get off and she rode Bella through some of the tough parts.  Then Judy told me that I was over riding with my hands and using strength in the wrong way to control my horse.  So she gave me homework for the week.  I was not to use my hands but to use my seat.  My seat that I've been trying to develop these last 10 years.  My seat that should be one of my first aids not one of my last.  Well, I listened and I worked very hard to not over ride but to let my horse come to me.  To use soft re-balances and create a lighter horse in my lighter hands.  We have been doing that for about 2 weeks now and the results have been amazing.  (Bella is also back on her drugs/hormones, so that helps).

Now back to my lesson.  My warm up was going very good.  Soft bending lines, leg yielding, steady rhythm, relaxed horse but developing engagement.  And it just got better and better.  Judy wanted leg yields to shoulder ins to halts to rein backs back to trot and so on and so forth.  Then we moved onto the canter where we did shallow counter canter serpentines to changes of rein through the serpentine.  Then simple changes every 4-5 strides with a little leg yield before the new depart.  Wow it was just great.  I rode with feel and channeled the thoughts that I had from the article.  Bella was lighter and freer and just absolutely trying her hardest without getting super tense which would be her normal MO.

Now I couldn't have had that type of ride without having control over my own body.  Riding softer and lighter with less forceful strength doesn't mean that your not using your strength and conditioning it just means that your using it differently.  Instead of being forceful and trying to make Bella do what I want, now I ask her with subtle aids and praise her when she answers.  I help her by having control over my body first.  Being fit has not just benefited me but it has also benefited my horse.

Horses Love to Roll

The sun was out and it was warm here today.  It was like a little taste of summer today.  I loved it!  And the horses loved it too because they got to go out without any blankets on.  So they had a very nice naked roll after both having very nice relaxing rides today!

Dressage Lesson Monday

I switched my lesson on Bella to Mondays instead of Wednesdays.  The reason being I have personal training on Wednesdays and I found that I was a little fatigued both mentally and physically having both my lesson and personal training on the same day.  Still ride Bella before I work out on Wednesdays but as you know you don't tend to push yourself or in this case your horse as much when you are by yourself.

So I got to the barn and cuddled Bella for a bit then got on and thought to myself this will not be a repeat of last weeks lesson.  Just for reference last week's lesson was a disaster.  Both Bella and I were hormonal and we had a horrible ride.  So bad that my trainer, Judy had me get off. Sometimes it is good to just get off for the day.  Since last Monday I've worked very hard at not using strength in my riding to get my way but instead to use my steady seat and encourage Bella to respond accordingly.  The good news is we ended up having a fabulous ride.  And I will only get better as a dressage rider with this kind of thinking and riding.

Bella needed a good roll after our great ride.  Gotta love having a grey horse!