The End

Sad day!!

It's the end of the class!

The final today was alright. 

We have had better runs and Spirit was worn out so our free style totally flopped.

My grade did not like it :(

But here it is ...

(Gotta love Vanessa and Emily's commentary :)

It's been a GREAT semester and I've learned SOOO much!

Sad that it's over.

I'm proud of myself and of the things I have learned with my two handsome horses this semester.

Thanks Brother Twitchell!!!!

Bath Time!

Have I mentioned Spirit's horrible ground manners??

Well they make trying to clean him up for the final loads of fun ... not!

So thats what we did today, struggled with ground manners while I basically spot washed him.

It actually was better than expected.

But anywho, this past week = just more practice for the final.

I think it's actually going to go pretty well :)

I'll try and have someone film it and I'll add it to one last post!

Final Extra?

Ok so not much new to talk about.

Worked with Spirit today and he's getting better and better.

But now I think I came up with something for my extra little freestyle bit for the final!

I let him loose in the arena the other day after a great ride to let him roll and cool down how he pleased. He would play for a short bit but every time he would come right back to me and just stand with me. He wanted to be with me! So i decided to experiment and work with him as if he had a halter on — have him trot next to me, following my energy, follow where i went in the arena, stop with me and turn with me, as well as come back to me when he went too far ...

And would you believe it, he did it all!!

So I think we'll work on it more and try and do that for our final!

Just the Norm

Alright,

Not much more going on, just more progress and lots more learning.

Spirit and I are getting lots better! And Cowboy and I are getting better too!

Have to admit I'm WAY sad that this class is ending soon and I can't find another excuse to keep riding these guys after this!!

Just gotta keep working towards the final I guess.

So Much Going On

Ok so I know I'm slacking with the blog so here goes some catching up .....

Ok so Spirit...

He's quite the punk and he'll be dominant with you if you don't show him who's boss! 

And that's what I'm learning right now ... how to be the boss.

As far as riding goes, we're having a blast and learning a lot!

I ended up doing the laps with Spirit the day after we were aquatinted and we did better than I thought!

Then last week we went on a trail ride and he got quite a kick out of that! It was a gorgeous day and we all had fun.

But it's what I did after that I'm all proud of!

This is the biggest part!

I RODE COWBOY!!!

Like out in the open arena, breathing normally, no fighting, calmly walking around!

Ok maybe not the biggest thing for everybody but it's HUGE for me!! I feel so much better and I actually can't wait to do it again!

The ride was awesome because I was able to stay calm and he did a great job of staying on my focus! We walked around for a short bit and then tried to trot ... maybe not the best idea because he got so excited he didn't know what to do and literally ran into the wall ... but other than that I couldn't be happier with how it went!

The next thing to come is our obstacle course final.

So ... 

GOALS:

1. practice riding with Spirit

2. practice the final (w/ Spirit)

3. Get back on Cowboy!

Shoot ... Try Again?

Ok I admit it ...

I'm a big fat 

chicken

Yes I'm a big one ...

I got a new horse.

I've never been a quitter ... nor will I admit defeat just yet!

I will still work with cowboy outside of class and we WILL ride eventually.

but still

Here's the thing - I was dreading class everyday I had to ride Cowboy and I let the fear get the best of me.

And that in combination of risking my grade was one bad recipe to make Bailey miserable.

I think more than anything I wanted a different horse so that I feel confident enough to actually work on the concepts we are learning in class and become a better rider - I'm too chicken to do that with Cowboy just yet - but I would for sure love to overcome all of that and get there with him in the end!

So we'll see how this one goes.

still have to do laps tomorrow or friday.

Goals:

1. make friends with my new partner!

2. those laps!

Here Comes Another Test

Ok so here comes another test!

5 laps around the arena at a trot ... 

sounds easy enough right?? Not so much.

... every time you direct your horse you get docked

Cowboy doesn't listen well enough for that just yet. Nor do I feel confident enough to run around an open arena on him yet.

Well that confidence will have to come quickly 

... cuz it's next 

FRIDAY!

Looks like I'm going to have to do some serious courage finding and we're going to have to leave that round pen tomorrow and take a step out of comfort!

But that is how we learn, after all.

Wish me luck ... and some sanity :)

Goals:

1. those laps!