SECTUMSEMPRA!

Let me just say- I hate my car.

There. Now we can get to the point. Satruday (A week from yesterday) I went up to see the clinic, and got to watch Ariel and Calvin be yelled at! That was fun and rather uneventful.

Thursday=bad.
Ran out of gas on the way, was 20 minutes late
The actual lesson was great. Ranger, such a sweet horse, was waiting for me.
Yay for MS paint and 10 minutes!

He is SUPER steery, that is to say, just a tap with the rein and he's turning. He takes a lot to stop. He's like my car before the brakes were fixed, and Solo is like my car afterwards.
Ranger actually jumps the jumps instead of taking a huge canter stride over, so you could say I jumped for the first time that night! We did larger jumps, they looked 2 feet.
My dad wants me to set a camera on a tripod and record the whole lesson, which would not only let me make little movies, but he could see me riding for the first time in forever and I can evaluate my riding.

On the way back I never go lost but I was running out of gas so I went to walgreens to buy a shell gift card, but there were no shells, so I retraced my way and ran out of gas on grand ave almost to gurnee mills! I had been on waukeegan almost to deerfield! Luckily the BP across the street took checks, of all places! But then I was forced to go over the amount I had in my checking. Then I was able to go to the Shell station, all the way by 6 flags. X_X
Then Colby informed me that the car CAN go on the highway again and was able to since the brakes were fixed. X_X so I took I-94 home, it took only 35 minutes despite there being rain and flurries, and part of the way being one lane, with cement on one side and road blocker things on the other!
I really need a second job. I have my app out at a tiny bookstore, lego store, REI, and I'm going to to petsmart again. NEED GAS MONEY!!
Did I mention I'm now paying for my own lessons until I can get my ass out of bed and to school on time more. I'm trying.

NEW BARN *Fields and Fences*

They have a website!

I've only been once- yesterday. Mapquest got me there fine in about 45 minutes but coming back was a whole other story. I tried to reverse the directions but got lost because there were switch offs and ramps. I'll be much better prepared next week.

As for the place, it's nice. It's set up like a show stable with two indoor arenas, (one being slightly smaller for warming up when they host shows. The main arena has a seperated "on deck" area. There are just as many if not more heated viewing areas than the old place. My lessons even went down by $5!

The only cons are that you don't get to tack and groom your own horse. A groom does it for you. I believe in order to ride well you need to have a good understanding of the horse's behavior, and you can't get that if you always have someone else groom and tack your horses. Luckily I've had a good 6 years of doing it for myself and even for others. They have about 20 really nice lesson horses to choose from, though, so I should advance quicker now that I've dealt with a dificult horse. I really believe though that the dificult ones teach you the most and make you the boldest. I love Solo with all his little quirks and things, but I'm ready to try new horses. I haven't ridden any other horse but Solo for over a year except once last November 2006 and I was so used to Solo that he was hard to ride.

Also, my trainer told me that the most expensive part of a horse show is the traveling and Fields and Fences hosts at least two shows a year, so hopefully I can save enough to go. I think I can get by on those half chaps that look like tall boots so that I don't have to buy a whole new pair of tall boots, which start around $200 and are dificult to get the right fit, and take a long time to break in. I already have the fancy helmet I got for my birthday/christmas last year, and my mom ordered me a Tailored Sportsman shirt from a discount site for $20 and the price tag said $109.99! I still need a hunt coat but I know of discount places too, and I don't really need a nice one because I'll only be using it once or twice. I may even be able to borrow another rider's if they're about the same size as me. I've heard good things about RJ Classics, plus I see them in all different sizes and colors on equestriancollections.com and tackroominc.com for as low as $100. I almost bought a forest green Elite jacket through craigslist, I even called but then I didn't need it decause I couldn't afford the show.
I can always take whatever I get to the tailor so that it's not overly uncomfortable to ride in and that usually costs no more than $30.

Forgot to upload for a very long time

Here's one highlight where I did almost everything right. :)
Warm ups:


fun:


A bounce or one stride that I threw in when I saw I wasn't lined up right



I'm going to my first show at the end of this month! It's only a schooling show but it's $600 so it'll be my last for a long while.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Thursday, May 3rd
Happy Birthday Mom and Drake!
We rode outside today and Solo was his usual outside. Our flat warmup was no nonsense and quick. We trotted figure 8s then we cantered them doing simple changes. After a few little Xs we moved on to a one stride. It was an X then a vertical, which looked to be about two feet high! After it Solo really wanted to GO! He was stretching out and moving very fast. We put it together with a real course, and I was scared that I wouldn't remember where to go. I found it's a lot easier when you are going around then when you're sitting there looking at it. I was trying to remember when to hold him and when to let him go but the truth is he was just going so fast the whole time was mostly instinct. Collecting, slowing, and waited and got him to not take half strides. Since they were all diagonal planks and stuff there was no specific number of strides that I was trying to get but I still counted his rhythm.

After I asked Ariel about shows and she said I could go! There is one in June but it's a 3 day show and she estimated after transport, entry, etc. fees it would be about $700. There is also one in August that is only about $200 because it is local and just one day. It's Fields and Fences. I have to save up but Mom says that she might buy my coat. Ariel said anyway they may excuse coats because it would be so hot but I need to buy a coat anyway because I plan on going to other shows. I want the R. J. Classics grey with teal and blue plaid because it looks awesome and tailored with only little alteration. Dover just started carrying it, and on horsetackresale.com people rate even the $190 wool version very high, up there with elite by grand prix and the top of the line RJ coat up with GP. I have my too big ariat breeches that I think I'll wear anyway and the too short, too wide, slippry devon aire crap tall boots. I'll have to buy some sadl-tight or whatever that grippy material is. At least those fit me in the feet. My helmet will look great.

I haven't been keeping my blog up to date.

Here is from two or three weeks ago:


and this is from last week.

Everything went well and I was getting nice spots over the diagonal blocks. I did each twice before I had to stop, I was about to throw up thanks to only eating some salty, sugary, nasty noodles. The rest of the dinner was even nastier and I thought I'd puke if I ate any more. I couldn't get any food on the way beacuse my debit card is not working until I transfer more money from my savings to my checking. I've accidentally been putting my checks into savings and also the check to Colby for my computer came from checking. They already had to take the $130 for my sheep out of my savings. Mr. Sheepy is sick, they all are but they're on meds and will be fine in time to work with them for the fair. Unfortunatley not soon enough for this Saturday's official weigh in so they'll just get their tags. That means we can compete in everything but weight gain class, the one class Glenview Clovers always wins. :*(. I think I may name my sheep Xerxes.
Back to the picture/diagram. Sorry it's a little hard to follow, got carried away with the magnificent MS paint again! Anyway, we warmed up with just going over the first x and cantering out in the middle of the line and back to the wall. I'm proud to say that when we moved on to the circle in the middle, after two trys I got it perfectly! The moral of this story is eat good food before you ride, take your alergy meds, and make sure you have money in your checking account before you buy a sheep!

Thursday, March 22

Starting out, my jeans threw me off and made my leg unstable. Cantering was good, circles nice with aids. Fun fun. did this course:

Trotted into the low x's in 4 strides, cantered out over the gates (about 1.5' high) around and back over the the gate again. The last time we did the x line to the gate line back to the x line. X in 3, gate in 4, x in 3.
flickrs not working either.

I visited Wedgewood/ Mill Run Farm...

Saturday, March 17, 2007
...and wow, it brought me back down to earth! I tried to go the nicer and faster way Kayla drove but I got lost quite a few times. I ended up using 1/2 a tank of gas! When I got there, some lady was there and her daughters were riding Sally and some chestnut paint and she said Donna and Lexi were out to lunch. I told her about me and she said that Kristine just told her students she was no longer going to be offering lessons. (everybody smile inside) Then I went and said hi to Bell, who I spotted from far away because she was her usual grumpy-muffin self pinning her ears and tring to bite the neighboring horse. :)After that I petted a growling Vivian and then left a note on the white board. As I was leaving, Donna and Lexi came and I went to talk to them. Lexi took her 'shorty' in and Donna acted like she was trying to figure out who I was. She needed to know if I was leasing, then when I said shareboarding she mentioned a woman who's mare doesn't jump any more but might do some for lessons. I wanted to say, "I AM EVA, I RODE WITH KRISTINE AND DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING! I RODE AND SHAREBOARDED PLAYER, REMEMBER ME???!" but I didn't. It was probably my green eyeliner for St. Patty's Day and the fact that had my hair down. So long are my dreams of certain great grey jumpers, show teams, etc. I realized I've been so stupid not to realize I can become a working student for Ariel and Becky! Tess says she has to work 5 hours for a free lesson. Maybe I can work out something like working 2 or 3 days a week in the summer in exchange for shareboarding Liver or hopefullt Trooper and only paying for one lesson a week. At the very least, I'd get an extra lesson on Solo every week or so if shareboarding was not an option. The only thing is, Ariel already has two other working students, I don't know if she needs/can accept me. Working students get to go to clinics and shows, even if it is only one a season or two, the real thing more than once a week always advances you almost twice as fast as just riding once. I'm going to ask Ariel next week but I'll make it clear I can't until I get that car for keeps and not just on Thursdays, which is any time from early summer til after summer.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Will update rest later. Gymnastics and a gate:

Thursday, March 8th, 2007

Wow, this week was interesting! We started with some trotting, nothing interesting, then I got him to pick up the canter in about two strides both ways. I just never took my leg off him and kept my shoulders back. Oh, and Black Pony was back. Apperently they and their trainer are leaving in a few weeks. Before jumping, Mr. Solo pony spooked at a loud noise, but 3 strides later we were back working fine. I'm so used to it I think my muscles automatically put me in a deep seat with heals down and shoulders back now. Yay for OTTs! We started trotting into a little x and I got ahead, then got it right, then the girl riding black pony whose name I can't remember cantered tight circles with a whole lot of inside rein and not much anything else. Pony was mad and bucked a bit. She ended up loosing her balance and falling, the pony I think kicked her leg when she was on the ground. After that I was the teeniest shook up even though Solo was really good. We did this course:

and then just did 2 and 3 (natural gates) over and over until we did them right. I got my simple change every time but I think I need some prince of wales spurs! I did, however have a whole bunch of really bad spots and some bad eq. When I was waiting at school for a ride on Saturday it was such a nice day that I had the urge to just drive off, anywhere, as far as I could get on $30 of gas. I had the same urge Friday. Then I got the idea that I would really like nothing better than to throw my tack in the jeep and drive up to Wedgewood. My goal is to find and talk to Donna before Kristine. That was I don't have to tell her I don't want lessons with her anymore. Perhaps if there are Saturdays where I'm only working one shift I could drive up and present myself eager to do chores for free, maybe in exchange for a ride every now and then. Even if I have the car on Fridays I could. That would make the switch over much smoother not to mention easier, once I get the jeep for my own.

Thursday, March First, 2007.

Ariel got a dog! She's your average shepherd/ unknown mix and she's really small, there's a noticable difference in her height on me compared to Niño. She got her at Orphans of the Storm. :)
I sat my trot, then without irons, then posted without irons. I need to do that again next week to build some strengh. Then we cantered pretty quickly and was pretty nice. We did the outside line and then a rollback. At first we missed the second X totally, then we were either going over a low verticle or crashing into it, so I chose to give him a huge release and he took it. I didn't want to make him lame again. *wink*
We eventually got it but went almost all the way out to the wall. As he was tiring, he would sometimes pick up the wrong lead then trot the rest.
This is our path most attempts:


In the following model, dotted yellow is the incorrect path I took the second time, and ice blue is the correct path that I eventually took.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

New black breeches, grey suede 1/2 chaps with pink stripe.
Vet visited last Friday, been medicating Solo's leg, he feels much better.
Started the lesson out trotting nicley, moving nicley off legs, I still used a bit of piano hand while getting corners. Picked up the canter on his bad side first, fought for the corners, almost got all the way in.
Started jumping with outside line, trot in to straight line halt. Gave in after 1st x, Solo veered off to the right and jumped across second jump weird. Got 6 1/2 strides when it should have been 6. Worked on keeping him straight and getting pace, then once I got it, with not having floaty hands. Once we got that we added the other outside x on the other side (at a trot) and then since I wanted to keep going I wasn't so strong with my aids and he cantered the corner when I was supposed to halt. I could tell he was feeling better though because he easily flexed and gave me a nice small circle at the canter til we walked. Then we trotted into the line and cantered the other x, and the corner to the diagonal x. I love the way Solo gets all excited and I can start to actually feel spots and practice looking around corners to my next jump like people at shows. Everything is so much more clear and calm when you don't have to worry about trotting.

My website is now for fanart and this blog is now for riding

I have grown tired of Horseland's many glitches and the fact that shockwave does not work on my new computer so my website will become a place for me to store and display all of my photomanipulations and blends featring movies or dogs/horses I admire of like. Here is the top picture for the layout I have designed.


I'd like to convert this blog into a riding journal because I have found that my lessons are much more productive if I have reflected upon what we worked on last time and take the time to read up and think more on the subject. This week it's the effect of my shoulders, reminder not to get piano hands when getting my corners when Solo doesn't want to, streach my legs before getting on so that I can use my left leg and it will flex better for turning and stearing, and most of all, prepair for the fence after next so I don't THINK too much about the one I'm about to jump and just let my instincts guide me.