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  • showjumper
    showjumper Posts: 335 Member
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    @Here4Cookies What an amazing step! Makes it all worth while....
  • tmcoyle
    tmcoyle Posts: 168 Member
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    @luckypony71 great way to chip away at a bigger goal, taking it a little bit further every day.
    @Here4Cookies yes, the uneventful rides are always amazing and you realize just how far you both have come as a team.

    I have had the great fortune of riding with Buck Brannaman and Clinton Anderson along with other great horse people and I have accomplished so much trust and respect using the Natural Horsemanship training. All my show horses trail ride and people are so amazed they are so versatile. I have been all over the country trail riding my show horses.
  • Here4Ponies
    Here4Ponies Posts: 116 Member
    edited January 2017
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    @tmcoyle I'm a dressage rider and my barn is mostly other dressage riders and hunters. I'm amazed at how most of them refuse to ride outside the arena. A lot of the DRs refuse to ride in the outdoor arena, preferring the indoor even in summer. My trainer (an eventer and jumper by training) purchased a middle level dressage horse for her own recreational use. He has been ridden outside so infrequently, he is actually insecure in his footfalls in even mildly uneven terrain. I don't understand keeping the horses limited to controlled environments.

    Has anyone else had a chance to ride recently? We've had some strange weather....
  • crimsongrey
    crimsongrey Posts: 329 Member
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    Had a great jump school today! My horse and I are finally starting to click :) It was our first course work in a couple of months. We worked on keeping a consistent pace to the jumps and on the backside. So much fun!
  • crimsongrey
    crimsongrey Posts: 329 Member
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    Òh, and we don't have any fenced arenas...it's all open fields and trails. I used to do h/j's and was scared to leave the ring. Now I can't wait to be in the open!
  • snookb276
    snookb276 Posts: 121 Member
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    @crimsongrey That sounds like a blast! Glad you are enjoying your time down south.
    @tmcoyle I've seen that too. I feel like riding outside the arena is vital for a horses mental health just like turnout time.
  • showjumper
    showjumper Posts: 335 Member
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    @hoyalawya2003 Bout time you showed your pretty little face in here :) So glad to hear your doing well and had a great lesson last week!
  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
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    I've always been nervous to go out of the ring. The trainer I am with now has really helped me out with that. We have walk on access to thousands of acres of private land with 80 miles of trails. We will go out trail riding, do trot sets, hill work...its great for my confidence.

    Had my last lesson last night before my trainer heads south. I rode the pony :) and worked on some trot poles and then some small gymnastic work. It was fun. Hoping to get out this weekend with a friend from the barn and do some trail riding...its about a 20 minute hack over to an all weather ring so we might go there as well.
  • Here4Ponies
    Here4Ponies Posts: 116 Member
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    I need to remember not everyone learned to ride the way I did: bareback on a nasty (really very patient!) Shetland pony on my Grandma's farm, dodging the cattle. I don't think I rode in anything smaller than a 5 acre pasture until I was a teenager. I find riding in a crowded arena to nerve wracking. :)
  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
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    @Here4Cookies haha yes I find warm up rings terrifying! Especially when jumping is involved...free for all at some shows!
  • luckypony71
    luckypony71 Posts: 399 Member
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    Living in the City we are limited on our trails. Some barns have to trailer into the park. I am lucky that it is right at my gate. I wish I could of grown up riding on a farm. A friend of mine was telling me that when they were little they learned how to stay on the hard way, if they got bucked off the pony it was a long walk home. :)

    @hoyalawya2003 Sounds like you had a great lesson. Good job!

    I managed to get some time in with Breezy yesterday. Went a whole week without horsey time! She was very distracted.

  • showjumper
    showjumper Posts: 335 Member
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    @jcraig10 you should see some of the warmup rings here in the winter..... classes of 100 horses, and trainers that think their pony riders (children typically) should warm up when the class before ends even if they are 85-99 in :(

    I had a lesson last night and it ended awesome! I have an oxer issue, my last trainer instilled the doubt a long time ago, by always dropping the back rail or crossing it over..... well last night the line was vertical oxer 5 strides.... oh and a water tray under the oxer! we started with a vertical vertical and it was fine. Then it was built up to a square oxer not very big maybe 2'9 well by stride 3 I gave up..... kinda like taking my foot off the gas driving up a hill and my horse needs the support for his own confidence. I progressed from stopping at stride 4, to chipping in and doing 6 to getting mad enough that i did it perfectly at the end! I need to work on getting back into the saddle for support (not driving) and not in a half seat.

    I have my first indoor show coming up in 3 weeks where my trainer is wanting me to move up..... Entries are due Feb 7... we will see if I stay in my comfort zone or move it!
  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
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    @showjumper Sounds like you made great progress in that one lesson! Great work.
  • showjumper
    showjumper Posts: 335 Member
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    @jcraig10 Thanks :) I just have to put on my brave face and get it done, which is easier said then done.... if I show any doubt or reservation my guy isn't quite brave enough yet to bail me out.
    My trainer is leaving in the morning for Thermal so I will be with the International Rider for the next two weeks....... then 1 maybe 2 lesson when he gets back before we leave for the first weekend.
  • crimsongrey
    crimsongrey Posts: 329 Member
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    Such a fun ride today! Trot and canter sets followed by a few jumps in the jump field. Great rhythm and so rideable :)
  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
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    Had a fun hack out today with a couple of barn friends. The farm has walk on access to tons of trails so we went out and did a nice 1.5 hr loop. I don't get to go out on the trails a ton so I'm not very confident out there but the pony is a rockstar and we did have one nice long canter spot which was fun.

    It's so nice to get out of the ring, as we've been talking about here the past couple of days. There's really just nothing like it.
  • Here4Ponies
    Here4Ponies Posts: 116 Member
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    Last night was my second ride in over a month on the 7yo OTTB. He stabbed himself in the shoulder just before Christmas. Between that, bad weather, and holidays I hadn't ridden him since. Until Sunday. I lunged him three days last week to get his mind back to work mode but I was still expecting a lot of 'oh hell no get off my back' from him. Only one time, after a walk break, did he suck back and say NO but I said YES and he said oh okay if you insist. Yesterday, not even that much resistance. I think he might actually be growing up. :smile:
  • showjumper
    showjumper Posts: 335 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Had a good lesson yesterday... I have an age old issue with oxers.... this is the first time around the "course" hence the hesitation to the red one (it was 1.0m and looked like 1.50) but had to pay for the goose with a circle to get the lead but went down the second line well.... huge confidence building ride yesterday! Pretty proud of myself!

  • showjumper
    showjumper Posts: 335 Member
    edited February 2017
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    Ugh trying to attach the video.... ok so had to go to alternative measures :) here are the pics of the fences ... I was sitting on the horse when I took them... ha they look mini!..... we did stick them after and the red was 1.0m and the green was 0.90m akocp5iw54di.jpg
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