One Week to Go!

 I rode Ruby a two times last week, and have been steadily improving.  All the work at turning Ruby without out my hands are finally paying off; I did some nice maneuvers the last couple rides, and even improved at the cone serpentine.  While doing the cone serpentine, the goal is to keep the horse almost straight, sidestepping slightly rather than making a part circle, which I have done successfully. However, turning around the last cone proved to be the most difficult part until Laura explained how to do it properly.  Instead of trying to pivot around the final cone, she told me to start turning just after the second to last cone, making a circle around the last cone.  It worked out much better than attempting to turn tightly around the last cone.  I even attempted to jog the serpentine, though the cones were made a bit wider than it was before I attempted it at a jog.

 Laura also made me do a short course.  I started by entering the box at the walk and halting, then prepared to do a turn on the haunches to the right.  When I asked her to turn her shoulders, she went a bit fast, but didm;t bump any poles.  I straightened her, took a breath, and gently asked her to walk off.  As she stepped out of the box, I asked for the jog, heading straight towards the rail.  I focused intently on keeping straight lines of travel rather than allowing Ruby to cut in on the turns as I have before.  Cutting in does not look pretty, and I would likely lose points for that.  Once I reached the rail I turned right, continuing along until I was across from a cone marker.  Here I turned right again, traveling several strides before turning directly to the box.  I entered it, halting. After a few moments, I took off again, heading directly to the white wooden side pass pole.  Taking a deep intake of breath, I began to side pass to the right.  I slowly, carefully, pushed her over step by step.  I reached the end of the pole, jogging off almost immediately.  After just a few strides, I reached the rail, traveling left along the rail, down the short side and around the corner.  I swerved left and right through the serpentine.  I had barely exited the serpentine when I turned Ruby left into the box.  Laura thought I had done really well!

 I also practiced a side pass around the corner of the box. At first, my aids were discordant;  Ruby was unclear at what I was asking her to do, and I didn't prevent her from becoming crooked.  She began to get flustered, balking and becoming discombobulated.  I inhaled deeply.  Laura mounted her for a few moments to school her for a couple minutes, then allowed me to remount.  This time I relaxed, taking my time as I pushed her to the corner.  Then, I put my outside leg forward to push her shoulders over, asking her to do a quarter turn on the haunches around the corner of the box.  I poised my inside leg at her side block her should her shoulders move too far.  This time she moved around the corner smoothly and fluidly.

 I also worked on some western pleasure and cantering this week.  The walk and jog is going well, though I'm having struggles with the canter.  During the canter, my aids become discordant and unclear, my body tenses, my hips move against the rhythm and/or comes out of the saddle, and everything falls apart, becoming inconsonant, wild, and inharmonious.  In short, it was a disaster. It doesn't always happen to that extent, but I've had some of these struggles for a while.  Funnily enough, when I accidentally cantered last week, I did not have these problems, which proves that when asking for canter, something in my mind makes me shut down slightly.  It's not that I'm scared or nervous; I'm not sure why it happens.  Does anyone have any ideas on how I can relax in the canter, and move my hips in rhythm with it, and not against the rhythm?  I'm looking at articles online, but I'd like to know what anyone else thinks as well!  I'm just doing walk/jog classes, so I'm not too worried, and besides that, everything went really well!

Preparations Continue

 I rode Ruby two other times last week.  The second time, I rode her out of the arena and in an empty pasture while warming up, with Laura, who was on BB, following me.  I took up and down several steep hills, and circled around trees and rocks, trying to use as little aids as possible to turn her.  Before heading back to the arena, I worked on riding her on a perfect square.  It was difficult, and I kept letting her dive in on accident, causing the corners to become round rather than the sharp, 90 degree turns I desired.  I also overused my hands.  After riding it a few times in each direction, I got pretty good corners, though it still needed some work.

 In the arena, I once again worked on riding into the box.  This time I added a second element: a turn on the haunches to the left while inside the box.  The trick with this is to work it slowly, one step at the time, but the first several times I didn't block her with my inside leg in time,  causing the turn to become uncontrolled.  After a few times, I relaxed and successfully asked her to turn slowly.

 Next, I needed to jog out of the box.  This required me to be quick with my aids.  I had to first ask softly, and if she only walked, I had to immediately back it up with a kick.  If I was too slow, she would walk a few strides, which is undesirable.  I squeezed lightly.  She began to walk off, so I backed it up with a kick.  It was a bit to strong, because she ended up loping instead, which was not completely bad excuse it at least meant that she was listening.  However, she continued to be super responsive extremely responsive to me leg aids.  Even when I squeezed lightly to sake her to exit the box, she loped off.

 A couple tries later, I managed to slow her down, halting at a white ground pole several strides away from the box.  I was going to learn how to side-pass, a movement that is often required in a trail class. I walked Ruby over the pole, halting when I was directly over the pole.  Side-passing takes concentration, coordination, and skill.  Like the turn on the haunches, it is best done one step at a time.  I had to just barely lift my inside leg off Ruby's side, poising it near her side in case I had to block her from going too fast.  Furthermore, I had to keep my hands ready to stop her from stepping forward.  I side-passed to the left.  The first few times were fiascos–I failed to block her with my inside leg and my hands.  Consequently, she rushed to the side, becoming crooked and knocking the pole with her hoof, then surged forward a couple steps.  It took many tries, but finally I was able to push her sideways, step by step, without hitting the pole a single time.

 Friday,  I rode her for the third time.  This time, I worked on turning and on riding over the walkovers, a series of four poles that the horse walks over in a trail course.  I rode an exercise in which I would go over the walkovers, turn around a cone to the right, go back over them, turn left around a different cone, then repeat.  It was quite similar to an exercise I have done on Lucky before.

Such a good girl on Friday.

At the beginning of the ride, I had difficulty making tight turns, and used my hands way too much.  Once of my problems is that I don't turn my shoulders nearly enough while turning, especially to the left.  The walkovers, however, went well almost from the beginning.  Ruby bumped them the first few times through, but when I actually put my hand forward, allowing her to stretch, she walked over them nicely.  Midway through the lesson, I really concentrated on preparing ahead of time for the turns, making them much more tightly.  I did the same exercise at the jog,  but still walked over the walkovers.  I struggled with turning left tightly in the jog, had difficulty slowing the walk enough; Ruby bumped the poles with her legs as a result.

I then tried another exercise.  The walkovers were situated near the rail, so I headed over them, jogged off, and continued along the rail right after, tracking left.   When I was across from the box, which was not far from the walkovers, I turned left, entered it, then halted.  Next, I trotted out of it, turn right immediately, and circled to the right around the cone.  I jogged toward the walkovers(which were ahead of and to the left of the box), slowed to the walk, and walked over them.  I went a little too far out of the box before halting one time, but the exercise otherwise went well.

 Now, the only obstacle I haven't tried is the rope gate.  It's still a work in progress, and I have a lot to learn, but I'm starting to feel more confident in my trail abilities.  I am better at turning Ruby than I was the first time.  I need to focus on taking my time more when doing the obstacles though.  The show is on the 17th and 18th, so I have a couple more weeks.  I'll be entering a couple walk-jog classes: pleasure and trail.  I feel pretty confident about the pleasure class.  As long as I prepare during the transitions the same way I do with Lucky, and keep my split reins even, which I've had a problem with; I'm a rein leaker, I should do well.  Regardless of that, this show is about having a fun, successful first show experience.  A successful experience doesn't necessarily mean one where I place in the ribbons(although I would like to as I am a very competitive person).  Mostly,  I want to ride the way I am learning and not throw everything I learned out the window while I'm there.  I'm looking forward to it!

Moxie Ride No. 2

For my second ride on Moxie, I mostly worked on slowing his trot to a leisurely jog, and on getting him to become round.  I also rode one-handed for the first time, which was a little difficult to get used to. To ride one-handed, I held the split reins in my left, with my middle finger between them.  My left fist pointed down and was almost close enough to touch Moxie' s withers.  My other hand stayed where it usually is, as if I was holding reins in that hand.  Mostly, I steered with my legs, neck rein. if necessary.

  To make him round, I lifted my hand, which applied pressure to the bit and caused Moxie to become lower his head and lift his back.  It was important to use leg as well, because simply pulling his head down does not create proper engagement.  The bit is just there to "catch" the roundness and to give him something to come round to.  Therefore, you need both leg and hand in the formula.  Once he became round, I lowered my hand until it almost touched his withers, giving him a release.

I also worked on collecting his pace to make it like a jog; I wanted his steps to be small, but with proper engagement.  To this, I made him round, jogged off, and worked on collecting his stride by squeezing my fist and sitting back slightly when his stride became faster and bigger than I desired.  It still needs some work, which I will do soon.

Lesson on Moxie(3rd Level Mule)

*Long, word heavy post without a lot of pictures, but there is a lot to tell!

Yesterday, I rode Moxie, Laura's big black john mule.  It was a great privilege to ride him because he is very well trained, and because of that, Laura doesn't let many people ride him.  Since he has a lot of training, he is extremely sensitive to the small nuances in the rider's position and aids.  Every aid means something to him, and he's always looking to his rider to be the leader, and to make all the decisions.  He is constantly asking what his rider wants next and he wants the rider to take initiative and control everything. This is the reason why he is not a lesson mule(and why high level horses don't always make great lesson horses).  It's difficult for novice riders to focus on controlling the horse/mule while still working out their own body, which is why most lesson horses are horses that will make their own decisions when the rider can't/doesn't.  It was a real privilege to ride Moxie, and I appreciate the opportunity because it shows that Laura trusts me.

For example, when I looked down and to the left before taking off, he went that way.  I can't just look down and squeeze him to make him go off like I might do with another horse; I have to be prepared, have a game plan, and look exactly where I want to go.

 I rode Moxie in a western saddle and bridle because I can possibly do a mule show at the end of the month(instead of the dressage show).  According to Laura, mule shows always have a very fun, relaxed atmosphere, even at rated ones like the one I might do, and the people are very friendly, so it will be a great first show experience.  Plus, Laura knows most of the people there–the horse world is small, and the mule world is even smaller.  If I go, I will enter a novice western trail course, and possibly a pleasure class.

 While riding, I had to be extra careful with my hands because like I said, he is sensitive, and curb bits can be strong and harsh in unsteady hands.  I rode with split reins and kept them long, with only a light contact on his month.  My hands stayed close together because in the show I will have to ride with one hand, which shouldn't be too much of a problem since I have been learning to turn with my legs and upper body instead of my hands.  However, if I did need my hands I was told to move my hands slightly to the inside so that the outside rein touched his neck, making him turn.  This is what is called neck reining.

 I struggled at first, using too much hand and becoming tight.  I walked him around a bit, then asked for the jog.  However, I was too tight and leaned too far forward, resulting in a tight, bigger than intended trot.  Laura got on for a few minutes to school Moxie and to demonstrate just how light he could be, then let me back on again.

 A western position is about relaxation, not tightness(no position should have a lot of tension but Laura told me to be relaxed and loose in western).  Also, I was told to sit more on my seat bones.  In my head, I kept a mental image of a reiner doing a sliding stop to help me to see how my position should be like. One mental image she used that was helpful in causing me to relax was to imagine that I was riding the best mule in the nation–the king mule.  It really helped me to sit upright and proud.  It should also be noted that riding western, I focused on having my legs more loosely at my side rather than keeping a hold Moxie's side.

Picture of Moxie from the first time I went to Laura's
ranch, back in January.  I miss the green grass!

The next time I asked for the jog was a bit better.  When I focused on leaning slightly back(really I was upright but it felt like leaning back because I had been too far forward in my upper body) and relaxing, Moxie jogged off really nicely.  To return to walk, I was told to lean slightly back, relax my body by breathing out, and to close my fingers slightly.  This is where the stopping reining rider imager proved useful, because my position should be similar to that, though perhaps not as pronounced.  The first few times, it took several dribbling strides to return to the walk.  However, after doing walk-jog transitions every few strides, and focusing on breathing out even more quickly, I began to get sharp transitions between the walk and the jog.  There were a few times throughout the ride when I became tight again and leaned forward.  Guess what?  It caused the faster, tight trot.  All I had to do to fix it was to sit up more.






 At the same time, I worked on steering without my hands.  To do this, I put my outside leg slightly forward and squeezed to push his shoulders over.  As the ride progressed, I had to do less and less with my hands.

 After a while, I tried one of the obstacles that had been set up around the arena.  There were walk-overs(cavaletti that are walked over in trail course), cone serpentines, a rope gait, a side-pass pole, and four poles arranged in a box, though I only worked on the box this time.  I jogged over it, turned around, and jogged back several times.  Moxie is surprisingly maneuverable in spite of his large size(17 hands).  Laura could almost turn him on the dime when she rode him!  I was able to turn fairly tightly when turning around to go back over the box.  I didn't make a large circle; I used leg to push his shoulder over and turn him around.  Unfortunately, one of Moxie's hooves dinged each pole when I rode over them, which would have resulted in a 1/2 point off for each ding had it been a competition.

 Next, I practiced the turn on the haunches because they always show up in trail courses, and are performed in the box, but I did it outside of the box.  To perform a turn on the haunches, I had to lift my inside leg to "open the gate," put my outside leg forward to push his shoulder over, and be prepared to close my fingers should Moxie decided to surge forward.  At first, I didn't close my fingers in time and he made a small circle instead.  Then, Laura told me to break it down step by step.  Doing this, I was able to get him to turn bit by bit, though he did go forward a few times before I could stop him.

 Then, I incorporated the turn on the haunches into the next exercise, which was to make a square at the walk.  At each corner, I had to do a quarter-turn to make the 90 degree angle.  Starting out, I used way to much rein, and I didn't close my inside leg in time to stop him from make a turn more than 90 degrees, causing him to cut in.  Consequently, I over-corrected and used the reins, pulling him too far to the outside.  After a bit, I breathed and decided to take my time.  I kept my hands at the horn and applied outside leg to push him shoulders over, then quickly blocked his body with my inside leg almost before he was finished turning, which worked out well.  There were a few times when I slipped into letting him make round turns again, but after I was doing the exercise well, Laura decided it was best to stop on the good note.

  I will continue to practice on Moxie and soon tackle the other obstacles.  If I can keep Moxie round, which I worked on too but didn't focus entirely on like I do with Lucky(he didn't have a martingale or training aid I might add), go through the obstacles without touching them, and ride one handed,  I should be prepared.  The key to trail course is for me to take my time; it is not a speed event like show jumping.  Lucky will get the month off as I get to know Moxie, but the next step with her is to ride her roundly without a training aid.

Progress!

 I'm really excited because my last few rides have been phenomenal.  I have really improved a lot since January, when I began riding with Laura.  These last few rides, I was able to keep Lucky round and on the bit pretty consistently throughout the ride, even through many of the transitions.  I now have a feel of what it should be like to keep a horse on the bit, which is a great foundation to build from.  I've been riding Lucky in a western saddle, which has really helped me with my position, balance, and hand steadiness.

 Lucky was really fresh when I lunged, because I haven't ridden her in almost two week(I was at summer camp a few weeks ago).  However, it was nice with her because she was pretty forward and sensitive to my aids for the most part.

Lucky is round and free in her back in this picture, and my position is good.

 I kept her nice, round, and soft for most of the beginning of the ride.  Once again, I rode that serpentine exercise that has the walk strides in between the change of directions, where the horse is straight.  I rode the exercise better this time than last time.  Although Lucky wasn't round for all the transitions, I was able to keep her round for most of them, and my walk transitions were much more timely.  She walked easily, without me having to prepare very early.

Not so great balance here on my part(if you enlarge you can see my lower leg has swung back).
Consequently, Lucky is unbalanced.

 While I did have this success, it wasn't all easy. I had to work hard throughout; it is very difficult, technical things I am learning.  About halfway through, I had Lucky became a bit fussy and unwilling to go forward, starting to back.  I didn't know what to do. Laura instructed me to bout my hands forward and to make Lucky go forward.  I worked through it, pushing Lucky on forward and gaining her respect.  In this situation, I had to be the alpha mare.

 I then did another tough exercise. I started a 20 meter circle to the right at A, then just past K I had to make a diagonal to R.  Then I would do the same thing at C, making a diagonal from H to P.  This is another deceptively difficult exercise.  It seems simple, but takes a coordination of many aids.  Just at the end of the diagonal, I must:

A. Change bend with the new inside rein and inside leg.
B. Use the new outside leg to push Lucky's shoulders over to straighten her.
C. Change my posting diagonal.

Not a very perfect diagram, but just a general idea of what the exercise was like.

 That is a lot to think about.  More than a few times, I wouldn't get the correct bend, or wouldn't straighten her, or wouldn't get the correct posting diagonal.  Sometimes, I would make the turn onto the diagonal a bit late. In this case I turned around I started again, because making the turn late would make it Impossible to finish the exercise correctly.  It certainly challenged me, but I rode through it nicely a few times.

Another great, balanced picture.

 After the exercise, I cantered Lucky a few times.  I have a problem of getting tense in my back when cantering, and I have difficulty getting my legs still.  I think I may be getting a bit tight in my knees as well, which would contribute to an unsteady lower.  Relaxing and melting deeply into the saddle, allowing my hips to flow freely, is something I need to work on.  To finish, I free walked Lucky, focusing on my position and on letting my hips move freely with her shoulders.

Round Through Transitions

I had yet another fantastic ride earlier this week.  Lucky was round much more consistently, and most importantly, I was able to keep her round through transitions, which was a lot of work.  I again rode her western.

 I lunged her, then started by working on a trot circle to right after I had mounted.  Immediately, I began asking for roundness and an inside flexion.  My hands were much more steady than usual, and I was able to keep her consistently round, rather than round or only a few strides, which is amazing.  To prepare for an exercise I would do later, I worked through a lot of transitions.  I tried to keep her round through the transitions.  It is very difficult, because while riding a transition I had to be actively flexing and I had to stop her from leaning on my hands.  This was most difficult in the trot-walk transitions.  Downward transitions require just the right amount of leg so that the horse remains round.

Lucky in her western gear

 Lucky leaned a lot during the trot-walk transition, so I needed to use the right combination of leg(to keep her round and get her off my hands) and seat(to slow her).  Often, I needed to give her a kick during the transition to tell her, "Don't lean on my hands."  Then I would slow her.  This often resulted in a few dribbling jog strides into the walk, but Laura said that it was more important at this point that Lucky stays round through the transition.  After some work, I was able to consistently keep her round through the trot-walk transition.  I had taught her that I expect her to stay round.

 Roundness through the walk-trot transition came later.  I didn't have to deal with leaning in the upward transition, but I still had to flex her while she made the transition.  Finally, I got it.  I now have a feel of what it feels like to flex through the transition to keep Lucky round.  It certainly is a step forward in my progress as a rider.

After her bath

 Next, I did a very challenging exercise: a serpentine with a few walk strides between each change of direction. This may not sound very difficult, but it is because it takes a lot of preparation and thought.  I had difficultly getting a sharp trot-walk transition.  Either Lucky would walk only after passing centerline(I wanted her to walk over) or she would jog really slowly and never walk.  I needed to ask very early for the walk, as soon as I rounded the bend of the circle and began making a one toward centerline.  Most if the exercise went by with me struggling to get it right.  I also needed to ask for a more bold trot to show more difference between between the walk and the trot.  At last, all the hard work and focus paid off.  I had several real well-timed walk transitions, and a big trot. Laura decided to end on this good note, because both Lucky and I had done very well. I cooled her down outside of the arena.

What went well:

• Consistently round
• Steady hands
• Roundness through transitions

Also,  check out this contest from Karley.

Rhythm and Trail Etiquette

  I've been doing some of the usual work with Laura lately(tacking up and grooming mostly). Last week, I had a short but productive walk lesson on BB, her First Level mule. Laura wanted me to learn rhythm, and because BB has a big, rhythmic walk, she thought it would be best to learn on her. Before getting on, I had to count out the rhythm of BB's walk while Laura rode. I found it difficult to count out the beats of her footfalls, so Laura had me break it down. Each time BB's right front hit the ground, I said the word "tic." Once I found that rhythm, I began saying it twice as fast, counting the beat of both front legs.

 At last I mounted, riding without stirrups. BB's walk is quite different than Lucky's. BB has long, reaching strides, while Lucky usually takes slower, smaller strides. I entered the arena and began to say "tic" each time one of BB's shoulders came forward. Though I had to glance down at first, I could feel each stride once I started. As I rode, Laura had me play around with changing the length of BB's strides just by moving my hips. To open up her stride, I let me hips go more forward with each stride. To collect her, I blocked my hips and made smaller movements with them. It's pretty amazing how sensitive horses(and mules) are to slight changes in the rider's body.

 Another day, I rode Lucky around the property with Laura, who was riding BB. I learned about how to safely trail ride so that I could soon ride on the actual trail, a dirt road nearby Laura's ranch. As I rode, I attempted to keep just beside Laura, with my knee at her one, like riding a pas de deux. I had ask Lucky to speed up often, because she slowed down and began falling behind many times. We rode around the entire property, and even through one of the front pastures, which is currently empty. All this prepared me for my first real trail ride, which I will write about soon.

Rodeo

 Over the weekend, I went to the local rodeo, which was very fun because rodeos are so different than riding I normally see. There was bronco riding, bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, and tie-down roping–the usual. I came for the last the day of the rodeo, so heard them announce the rodeo princesses and queen. One of favorite events was the barrel racing. My observation from this one time watching it is that barrel racing horses tend to be a bit high-strung, which is probably because they are excited to run like racehorses are before a race. That's just my observation. Either way, I think it is really exciting to watch and would be fun to try. Enjoy the pictures I took!

Bringing in the state flag

A couple of the flags.

Bronco riding

Another bronco rider and horse

One of the horses was especially feisty(not this one) and was trying to climb out of its pen.

Team roping

One of the roping teams were trying to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo(NFR). Another pair had many family members that had gone to the NFR. I'm not sure which par that was though.

Barrel racing

A gorgeous horse

Bull riding..Yikes! It look much harder and more dangerous than bronco riding. one of the bulls charge
at the rider after he fell and brushed him with the horn. One of the bulls even fell down with the rider.

Since no stayed on for the full 8 seconds, no one qualified for the next round.

Here people are catching the bull. This particular one was very stubborn and didn't want to get caught.
It took several minutes to finally get him through the chute.

What is your favorite rodeo event?

Connie Lara Western Clinic, Part II

 The second day of the clinic was a lot about reining and western pleasure, and I learned a lot. We started by learning some of the warm-up exercises that Connie does. We combined both arenas for more room. One of these exercises was one in you ride down the side of the arena, making a large circle at each corner. This is one way of getting the horse to be responsive to the aids. We did the exercise at the jog and the lope, working both ways. Another exercises Connie uses is the counter canter. Counter canter is difficult, but it helps the horse to become responsive and more balanced. First, we started on the left lead, cantered down the side of the arena, made a diagonal, circled, then headed back. This was very difficult, and the first time I intentionally counter cantered. Nevertheless, I could keep Anna in the counter canter without her falling into the trot/jog. the next exercise was more difficult: we had to ask for canter right away, rather than making a diagonal. Connie said to think of it as just asking for a right lead or left lead and not asking for a "wrong lead." Since I was heading left, I used my left leg when asking for the canter(from the walk) so that Anna would ice up the right side lead. She picked up the counter canter, but I difficulty maintaining for the circle and across the diagonal. It was great that I was able to get the counter canter right away, though.

Next, we rode some western pleasure. Western pleasure is a discipline that is very different than dressage. In western pleasure, you the horse to be in a low frame and you want the horse to take short, slow steps, rather than the big, expressive strides of dressage. I did a pretty good job at this,  except I need to lower my hands a bit to allow Anna to stretch down like the horses do in western pleasure.

 We also worked on reining circles. There were lots of cones that were it up into one large circle and two small circles within the larger one, and we would ride the big circle, then break it down into smaller ones. The practice of the day before had prepared me for this. I tried the exercise in the jog and the lope. However, I had a little trouble when I returned to the jog because I didn't continue to make a wide turn all the way out to the edge of the arena. I instead let Anna cut the circle small. I loped off and tried again, this time continue to focus as I returned to the jog, making a good, wide circle.

 In the afternoon, the riders who had done more reining practiced the reining spins. Since one other rider and I had never done this before, we watched the other riders instead. Then, we rode a mulemanship pattern. This is something at Bishop Mule Days where the riders ride down a koine of cones, following a set pattern where they have to walk, jog, and lope, circling some of the cones. I think the rider is judged in this one, as well as if they do do the pattern correctly(of course) and make even circles. The first pattern was simple: walk from the first cone to the second, jog to the third cone, lope off, circle to the left, return to jog and halt at the last cone. I did pretty good, except I came into the circle a little tight and halted a little early.

The next pattern was similar, except the lope circle was a figure eight first to the right and then to the left, with a simple change in between. Again, I cut the circle tight rather than going deep into the turn.  It's harder than it looks! The last time I did it, though, I did really well. I made transitions at the right moment, and made a great figure eight with large circles. Connie was so happy and proud of me for doing so well with her mule, especially considering that I had only ridden western a handful of times before that weekend, never before trying reining, western pleasure, or trail course. Furthermore, I was new to the mule, who isn't green but is only six and doesn't have much experience. I was the only teenager there, and held my own against experienced riders, many of which had been riding for 20+ years.

By the end of the weekend Anna and I had gotten the hang of each and my riding was greatly improved. A lot of the exercises I had done that weekend really helped me make better circles and to ride much less with my hands. Plus, I got to try a lot new things. Also, I just turned 15 on the 8th.

I Rode Western!

 I don't think I've mentioned this before, but Laura loves trying all kinds of disciplines, English and western. She believes that there is something to be learned from every discipline. Furthermore, she believes that it is great for horses and mules to try different, not only to relieve boredom from doing the same thing but also so the horse/mule can cross train and gain skills helpful to their main discipline. For example, she has done cutting, reining, western trail course, and hunters with Dyna.

 So I can try new things, I will be riding in a western trail course clinic later this month. One of Laura's friends is teaching, and I will get to ride the clinician's well-trained western mule. It's going to be exciting! The name is pretty self-explanatory, but for those of you who don't know, western trail course is a competition in which horse and rider go through a series of obstacles. The obstacles can be logs, poles bending, gates, and so much more. Riding western trail course can help me prepare for jumping because I need to prepare for each obstacle, like preparing for a jump, and the horse has to be responsive too.

She looks so cute in western! She has a nice jog too.

 To prepare for this clinic, I rode Lucky in a western saddle. I learned how to but a western saddle on and to to tighten the cinch. Basically there is a long strap that hangs from the saddle, and you put it through a loop at the end of the cinch and another below the flap of the saddle several times and tighten. I also rode in split reins, where the reins are in two pieces rather than being buckled together. As I was riding western, I sat for the trot and kept it at a slower, western jog.

 I tried to keep my position correct and get Lucky round. It's amazing how simply bending my elbows can get her to drop her and relax. Mostly, I need to let my legs go long without pinching, especially in the canter/lope. The first time cantering, my legs were stiff, and I braced. Consequently, Lucky's movements were not free. When I tried again, I really focused on letting my legs go long, and voila, her canter was more free.

 The most fun part was riding the trail course. The course started with a figure eight around two barrels, which were so close together that Lucky could just barely go between them. Then I would ride straight to the end of the arena, which wasn't very many strides off, canter straight and around the corner, past three pole bending poles, returning to trot and bending throughout the last few in the line, then bending back, turning right just before the last pole, and making a hair-pin turn to go between two cones and walk.

 The barrels were difficult, and I had to make a wide turn around each barrel so Lucky wouldn't return to trot. I started to the right, her most difficult side, then turned left and went down the arena. I sat back and asked her canter. Because I knew that she is easy to get to return to trot, I waited until she was at the third pole to ask her to make a downward transition, then began bending around the poles. Pole bending is really not all that different than serpentines. For both, your horse has to be balanced enough to change directions multiple times. It can be difficult to keep a horse going through a serpentine/pole bending, but I had no trouble keeping Lucky in the trot, even there were only small gaps between the poles. Finally, I make a sharp right turn just before the last pole, heading toward the side of the arena. Then I made a sharp, hairpin u-turn to two parallel pole. I halted in between them then walked off.

 I really had fun riding western and I can't wait for the clinic. Has anyone else tried western trail course before?