Lessoning on Ronnie!(Pontential Lease/Own)

  This past summer, Meghan had me ride Ronnie, a bay Belgian/TB mare, several times, though I had primarily been riding Chester. Ronnie is a nice mare, levelheaded, and has dressage training through Second Level(has been schooled in some Third Level with Meghan). Each time I've ridden her, I have enjoyed her and have become even more comfortable on her too. Ronnie has been to many dressage shows with her owner, Ann.

 Monday, Megan put me on Ronnie another time. This is only the fourth time I've ridden her, but I felt like I did well. As I rode, I focused on making her round, going through the corners, and keeping me arms and body soft and relaxed, the latter which is something I tend to have trouble with at the canter.

 I put Ronnie on a 20 meter trot circle at B so I could prepare for canter, but I had to work on the circle multiple times because I had trouble making the circle round enough. To fix this, I needed to use more inside leg to push her out, rather than using the outside rein, which should be supporting. Once I had everything worked out, I put my leg back and asked for canter, riding around the circle multiple times. I found myself bracing and not relaxing my body, which made my hands less soft.

A heart clipped on her haunches. 

 The next time cantering, after more trot circles, I took a deep breath and relaxed my body. It was amazing how much better my canter was, and the ones after when I did the same thing. Ronnie is a really nice horse and I feel very confident on her. Her transitions are very smooth as well.

This one and the ones after are from Wednesday. Look at her cute face!

 After cantering on a circle both ways, I cantered straight down the arena, then began learning one of the new 2015 dressage tests, Training Level Test 1.  The test is pretty simple: A down centerline, X halt salute. C track left, 20 meter circle at E. At A, make another 20 meter circle, cantering in the first corner, which is between A and F, continuing on the circle and down the long side with the trot after B. C is the medium walk all down to E, with a short diagonal in free walk to F. At A is the trot, at E a circle right, at C another 20 meter circle right, with the right lead canter in between C and M. Trot at B, then up centerline once at A.

On the bit, and my position is pretty good. I just need to keep my elbows bent and my leg needs to go a teensy bit back.

 In that test, the judges look for a horse that is supple, moving freely in steady tempo and clear rhythm and accepting contact with the bit.  I'm happy to say the test went well and met all that criteria, except accepting contact with the bit still needs more practice on my part. Meghan says it was show quality!

 Wednesday I rode her again. I had another great ride and have really been making progress. I feel comfortable and confident on her, which is good, and enjoy riding her. Throughout my lesson, I continued to ask Ronnie to become to round, which is difficult, but I was able to get her on the bit multiple times throughout the lesson, managing to hold it for longer amounts.

Happy horse!

 I still had difficulty using enough inside leg to keep Ronnie at all the points on the 20 meter circles, so I worked on this a lot. When you do dressage, my trainer said, the reins are for connecting the horse on the bit, not steering. I especially needed to remember this for the canter transition on the circle. Ronnie is sensitive, so I needed to use more inside leg rather than outside leg in the canter so she doesn't get confused.

 Once I had done a lot of walking, trotting, and cantering in both directions and had worked on getting Ronnie on the bit, I rode the Training Level Test 1 through twice. Besides the fact that I wasn't using enough inside leg for the canter circle at C, I felt it went really well. I was able to get her on the bit and she was relaxed and moving in a consistent tempo.

Cantering! California winters can be grey and chilly.

 I had two really great lessons on Ronnie. Ronnie's owner has been serious about finding a home for  her and has offered her to me for a great deal that includes all the equipment and is half of what she is worth, but I still need to talk with my parents. They are not quite sure their ready to make the investment. However, I might, might be able to full lease her until May and then my parents will make a decision. I'm all for having Ronnie. I love Ronnie, enjoy riding her, and Meghan believes she is a great match for me. Ronnie performs very well when I ride her and because she is young(about 13) and already has been schooled through Third Level by Meghan, I can move up the levels with her and hopefully even qualify for the junior state championships in 2015! As I said we have reached no decisions yet, but I will keep the blog posted!

Lesson on Correct Posting Diagonal

 I had a fantastic lesson today in which I worked on posting on the correct diagonal. When I first started riding, however, Chester seemed a little off. He wasn't lame, but was putting one of his ears back, tossing his head, and seemed a little on edge. At first, Meghan though maybe is was because his ear hurt, but that didn't seem to be the cause. She soon decided to lunge him a bit as she thought maybe he hadn't been ridden during the weekend. Sure enough, that seemed to be the problem. Chester gave a few small bucks to let out the extra energy. Luckily he is a good horse and didn't do any of that when I was riding.

I love this picture! Beautiful.

When I got back on, I picked up the trot on a 20 meter circle. After a bit I started a figure eight so I could work on posting on the correct diagonal and changing the diagonal. At first, I rode Chester at the walk a couple steps in between the two circles, then picked up the trot. There were quite a few times where I was on the wrong diagonal, so I walked and fixed it.

Later on, I worked on holding my two point for a few seconds the walk. Soon after Meghan told me to ride a few steps of sitting trot, then explained that I should do the same thing to change my diagonal if I was on the wrong one.

Holding two point. I'm leaning a lot forward, but at least my heels are down. 

I also did an exercise at the walk in which I closed my eyes and said “up” when the outside leg when forward. This exercise confirmed that I have a good feel for when the outside leg goes up. I probably just rush into posting rather than sitting a step and waiting for the outside leg to go forward. To test this at the trot, I closed eyes during the transition from walk to trot and started posting only when I felt the outside leg go up.

Nice picture too!

Things were a bit better after that, though I still had to change my diagonal back to the correct one a couple times. By the end of the lesson, I had started to get a better feel for how posting on the correct should be like since I had been focusing on it the entire time. I just need to focus on it when I ride.

Bath time!

After cooling down by riding around the barn and paddocks, I untacked Chester and hosed him off to get the sweat off and cool him down. When I put him away and began leaving, he followed me until he reached the end of his paddock. He had also perked his ears up and walked over to me when I first went to get hims. I think he likes my already!

 Here's some pictures from today that I didn't know where to put.

Not a dressage test, but looks like with how square he is standing.

Cute!

It's Official! I'm Leasing Chester!

 I had a great lesson yesterday on Chester. I met his owner, Jessica, who is very nice and friendly. I talked with her before getting Chester ready for the lesson. He had already been brushed because Jessica had taken him on a walk, so I just tacked him up and Jessica put some boots on his front legs. I was also using a different bit this time, a snaffle, while the other times I had ridden him I rode in a kimberwick. Meghan wanted to see if I could still control him using the milder bit. I walked around, doing walk-halt transitions for a few minutes while Meghan finished up a jump lesson. While I rode, Mom went over the lease with Jessica.

 When it was time to pick up the trot, I made a circle around Meghan and tested my brakes. I trotted a few steps, then walked, then trotted. The downward transitions took a few steps and I had to use more pressure to stop him, so after a few circles, we decided to change the bit. Once that was done, I again made a circle around Meghan and tested my brakes. I only had to use very light aids and Chester stopped. Much better!

 Once we had ensured that I could stop Chester if needed, I began trotting him around the dressage arena. My legs were a bit tired from riding several times this past week, I started gripping with knees. I walked for a bit, then focused on gripping with me calves, and things went much better.

 However, I wasn't posting with the outside shoulder, so I began working on that. Meghan had me working on correcting my posting. An exercise I did to correct this was zig-zagging across the short diagonals of the dressage arena(F to E, E to M). This helped me to focus on quickly changing my posting diagonal. I'm probably going to work on this until posting on the correct diagonal becomes automatic.

Circle at E

 After that, I rode down the long side and turned up centerline. I had to redo this several time because I didn't quite turn tightly enough. You have to make that turn a lot soon on a big horse! I rode up centerline halted and saluted at X, then went through Intro Test C(without canter).

Square halt

 When I finished that, I returned to the walk and cooled Chester out by walking around the property. Once I  finished untacking him and picking out his hooves, I brought Chester to the wash rack and hosed him off. I brushed the water off of him, then returned him to his paddock. After I put his fly mask on, Jessica gave me an apple to put in Chester's bucket. I'm really excited about his lease! It officially starts in July, but I will have lessons on Chester for the rest of the month. I will also write up an official introduction.

 Also here are some pictures from Monday's lesson--I didn't post them yet.

Cantering!

Cantering!

Lesson and Cantering on Chester Lease Horse

 I had another lesson on Chester, the TB/Percheron gelding I will soon lease, today. I started the lesson by warming up with walk-halt transitions, as I always do, the began a trot circle to the left in the dressage part of the arena. As I did so I worked on sitting up straight and posting on the correct diagonal. The edges the the arena come up quickly with a big a horse like Chester, so at one point I didn't turn soon enough and ran into the P dressage letter cone, knocking it over.

 After circling for a few minutes, I drank some water, then changed directions and started heading to the right.I was a bit better at posting on the correct diagonal right away, although a couple times Chester did some leg-yields, which Meghan said was because of uneven leg pressure. Chester is a sensitive horse and was unsure of what I wanted. I put him back of the circle and continued to ride him on it.

 Then, I started riding at the trot around the entire dressage arena, heading right. The more I worked, the better my posture and posting became. I later rode across the diagonal from M to K so I could change directions.

 Towards the end of the lesson, Meghan wanted to know if I wanted to canter. I did, so she put Chester on the lungeline I began a trot circle to the right. I was a bit nervous because I've only cantered a handful of times and had fallen last time, but after doing a few strides I was just fine. Chester's canter isn't as big and rocking horse-like as Ginger's, so it was consequently much easier to sit, though there was a moment when I almost went over, but I soon caught myself. I did several strides of canter at a time, three times. It was fun!

 I then trotted a bit more and cooled Chester down by ride the path that encircles the barn and pasture. I told him he was a good boy, untacked and groomed him, then put him away. Wednesday, I'll have another lesson on him, this time with Jessica, his owner, watching. Afterward we will work out a lease. If all goes well, which most likely will, I will start leasing him at the beginning of next month. I'm excited! When I start leasing him, I will ride three to four a week! I can't wait!

 In other news, I changed my blog name to The Aspiring Equestrian. I decided upon this name because I have aspirations when it comes to riding horses; many people who know me know I want to be a fourth level eventer someday. I thought the name was suiting!

Change of Plans!

 Earlier this month, as you may remember, I mentioned a dressage trained warmblood named Largo that was for sale in the area. I also mentioned that my parents didn't think we were ready for horse ownership at the time. However, on May 15th, after we talked to Meghan, we decided that we might check Largo out. She got in touched with Largo's owner last Friday, the 23rd,  and he was already gone, but three other geldings were coming in to the same person(she owns a rescue place where she rehomes sport horses). One was a Holstein named Benson. Meghan looked at the three geldings, older horses, today and decided that they wouldn't work because they had been neglected and had emotional luggage. They would take a long time to be brought to a good enough condition that they could be brought to shows. Seeing as they are 19 years Meghan decided they wouldn't work.

 The story doesn't end here though, because Meghan also talked about possibly considering a lease with a horse named Chester. I don't know anything about him, except that he is boarded at Silver Rose, where I ride, and is often leased out by his owners. Meghan thinks he might be a good horse to check out, so I'm going to be riding him and checking out on June 9th! Whoot! Less than two weeks! I'm ecstatic and can't wait for the 9th!

 I'm much closer now than I ever was to leasing or owning a horse! Actually leasing depends on how we get along when I meet and ride him and the terms of the lease, but I'm very excited! I think it might be good to lease for a year and gain experience before ownership because I want to eventually do eventing, which I will need to be more experienced for. I'm going to start with doing dressage for a year or two before doing eventing, so leasing a horse first and then get an eventer as my first horse my actually work. I can't wait to meet Chester!