Thursday's Trail Ride and Friday's Hack

Thursday we went on hack with my Mom on Stoli, and my Aunt Karen who was in town visiting on Tryst. It was really fun to have Karen meet Werther in person, she follows my blog, and was nice enough to give me her dressage tack for Werther. We took the boys out for a nice leasurely walk around the property, the gnats were bad in some places but other than that the boys gorged themselves on the pretty purple alfalfa blooms. I cut the ride a little short and went in the outdoor ring and practiced some transitions. Mom bought Werther a grazing muzzle, to help combat him wrecking the fence with his cribbing, Werther was pretty displeased. Friday I hacked outside and spent some more time on transitions from sitting to two point and loose legs. I definitely need to shorten my stirrups until I get the hang of this new balance.

Pictures!

I took some pictures out at the barn today, hope you enjoy!

kind of funny angle on this one, I was holding Wesley and I was trying to keep him from eating my phone while I took the picture. Left to right the horses are: Beckham, bay, 3 years old by Accord III; Curly, grey, almost a year, by Cassini II. Orvis, chestnut, 2 years old, by Orleandro.

Again, trying to take a pic and keep phone from being eaten, accounting for the wonky angle. 

The boys getting bored and going back to playing. 

Werther, wearing his Dressage bridle Karen gave me. Now Werther's dressage makeover is complete! 

Quick Post Before Bed

Going to Thermal this weekend was fabulous, I loved watching the world cup qualifying class and seeing Stoli in his new life as "hunter boy" for my Mom in the A/Os. My stuff from Aunt Karen was at the barn when I got there today. I did not have a lesson because Sarah was not feeling well. She rode Werther on Sunday and Monday and said he felt really good, he even got up enough ambition to throw in some playful bucks. She worked a lot with him on transitions. I was not in the mood to deal with any hijinx after a few days off so I turned Werther out in the indoor before I rode him, he had a good time rolling and galloped around and got a few bucks out. I just did a light hack in Karen's saddle, it is amazing. It is a high profile Albion SLK. I don't know if it is clear from the picture, but the pommel is higher and more cut back than a regular dressage saddle, which I think alleviated the problem of shoulder tightness we were getting with the other saddles I tried. Even up to the last hole the stirrups were still very much too long for me, but I felt really secure in the saddle's seat. This thing has some of the biggest knee rolls I have even seen, I'm not sure how that will affect my position. The cantle is also very high, I had trouble swinging my leg over to get out! Karen sent a couple different pads, I tried the EA Mattes pad with sheepskin lining that sits on the horse's back where the saddle goes and that seemed to work well. 

Lesson

The training wheels came off today, I rode without the rein aids. I was much better with my hands today and as a result Werther was really good today. It took a minimal amount of time to get on the bit and even after our walking break he did not put up too much of a fuss. I feel like a made a big step forward in my Dressage education today. We just trotted today but my goal was to memorize the feel of Werther being on the bit and in a frame. I still need to work on keeping my outside hand lower and taking a stronger feel with that hand, the hunter rider in me wants to be soft and give with that hand. My Aunt Karen shipped off her tack today, I should get it by next week! I am taking a long weekend and getting out of this terrible Minnesota weather and I am going to watch my Mom and Andre show at HITS Thermal. I will try and take lots of pictures for you guys!

I have the best aunt ever!

The final verdict on the saddle with Sarah was once again too tight on the withers, so it was a no go. We did not ever canter in our lesson today just did a ton of trot work getting Werther to really connect. This week when I hack I need to incorporate using a counter bend and 10m circles as way to get him in a frame and putting weight in my outside rein. The exciting news is my Mom talked to my aunt Karen and she is going to send me ALL her dressage tack!!!! I'm so excited, a regular dressage bridle, a barely used double bridle, girth, and a TRILOGY DEBBIE MCDONALD SADDLE!!! This saddle is amazing, and I'm praying like all get out that it will fit, Karen did not know what size it is. Karen also said I should come and visit Debbie's barn, River Grove. Karen rides with Debbie's husband Bob in the jumpers, and did a little bit dressage with Debbie with her old horse, Zack. I'm trying to study up on good Dressage equitation, and Sarah recommended I watch Courtney King and Steffan Peters. I've included two videos for your viewing pleasure:

Sunday Visit

Quick trip out to the barn today, Becky came over with a girl who currently works at her boarding barn to interview for a grooming position. Tom is no longer with us, so my Mom is trying to find someone before she goes to show at Thermal. I groomed Werther and Wesley, Werther's scratches are greatly improved. I was going to take some pictures with my camera but the battery died. It was nice to spend some extra time with Wesley, I don't want him to feel like Werther takes up all my attention. I worry about Wesley with his melanomas too, his condition is stable right now, but I don't know for long that will be it could be years or only weeks. When I rode Wesley he really took care of me and gave me a lot of confidence, I just want to make sure I return the favor. He is going in tomorrow to get this tumor biopsy done so they can make a vaccine from the tumor cells which they inject into him and is supposed to help reduce the tumor size. We had some more leads on Dressage trainers, Dr. Sarah recommended a person, and a woman my Aunt Karen used to ride with gave her a name as well. Debbie was also going to ask a trainer who works with the Leatherdale's, a local high end breeding barn. 

Trail Ride

They were adding more footing in the indoor today so my Mom and I went on a trail ride with Werther and Spike. Between the weather and deer hunting season coming up we have very few chances left to go out on the trails. The ground was still soft from all the rain was have been having so we did not do much beyond let them walk and eat grass along the way, we did a little trotting behind the paddocks were the ground was drier. When we were walking them in there was a lot of noise from the guys using the manure spreader to add the footing in and it made Werther a little nervous and he did a collect trot in the drive way to get away from the noise but he seemed to settle when I got off him. However, he spooked again when I lead him thorough the door into the barn and I lost the reins and he started trotting down the aisle. We stopped him quickly and then he was fine, I am just glad he did not slip on the concrete aisle. Things are progressing in the hunt for a Dressage trainer. My aunt Karen moved from Minnesota to Idaho a couple of years ago and rides with Bob McDonald, the husband of the Olympic rider, Debbie McDonald. My aunt Karen mainly does jumpers now but she used to do Dressage when she lived in Minnesota, so my Mom called her to ask her about Dressage trainers in the area. Karen asked Debbie, and Debbie is making some phone calls. How nice is that? If it is somebody that Debbie recommends, I know I can't go wrong. The rollkur stuff I hear about with Dressage scares me a little, and I want to make sure I am with a trainer that will teach me who do thing the right way.