the one sided horse lesson

as my topic says i have a young horse that has a hard time bending on the right rein.   .lesson went fairly well.. working on keeping a holding outside rein, to keep him from bulging his shoulder out and a give and release with my inside,but my outside as well to keep his head from looking to the outside of the circle, when he gives. my leg cues are less to be desired, as they have become a weak leg over time,so it takes alot of leg for me to keep him forward and bend around me...i did get a few strides here and there when i had it all together.
half way through the lesson i had jen(my instructor) get on him,as i am a visual type rider to not only school him a bit,but also to get an idea of what i need to be doing more or less of. she really had to get after him to get him  forward off the leg,which was no surprise to me...it got better after a while though..we ended on the lesson where he was soft on the aids and giving more on his off side
next lesson we have a plan to start him in some side reins on the lungeline to help him get the idea of what we are asking him to do. then convert that to under saddle.
got some riding homework to do over the next few days. weather permitting :(...rain,rain,rain for the rest of the week.

an evening in horsey heaven

today was the first day of the yearly event called "the mane event" as i find myself (and my mother) going, to our first time to this big thing, i am quite excited to see what's in-store for me at this event,.that others get so excited about..now i see why people are surprised that i hadn't been yet,and why they called it horsey heaven. it was literally wall to wall booths of everything imaginable anywhere from halters to equine nutrition and abroad.. i didn't even know where to start first.well put it this way it was a very easy event to spend thousands of $$$$$$$.i eventually walk out with a thin, but informative book called"lessons in horsemastership" by goerge morris and others, from Hcbc bookstore section and a order for some new stirrup leathers from abby saddle shop..wow what big spree i had(sarcasm)
i also got to watch the clinic of Bernie Traurig 1hr and a half of good instruction and information.flatwork and some jumping with a mix of int-adv riders doing a school over small fences/ gymnastics roughly 2'6 and under.courses will be going tomorrow morning.i will not be able to attend the other 2 days:(, so will be missing out on the conclusion of the clinic so can't blog much about the rest of the clinic.at this time i am wishing my payday came sooner.

in all.. i really enjoyed my evening out with my mother and has given me a bit of a push to get doran going more and excited for the future.i will MAYBE having some good oppurtunities and changes coming up this winter ..so stay tuned :) as it is still in the planning stages.

tip of the week:)

if you have a horse that wants to chew on his blanket and don't have "no chew spray". or equivalent,use hot mustard.in dry or prepared form..

shopping spree at tack store

You know those times where you go to buy one thing in a store and come out with more then originally planned , then shutter to think how much you actually spent..well i spent over a $100.00 today at tack store..my original plan was to just get a dressage whip, as i foolishly left my other one to close to the fence and my "mouthy" horse got to it..it is now a thin stick with a white handle.anyways i did buy a dressage whip and a nice one too,for a good price of $15.00.
then i started to think about the rainy/snowy months and wishing i had a blanket for him and again foolishly asked if there were any blankets on sale.not actually seriously wanting to buy one right now,but i broke down and did.i walked away with a 600 danier(sp?) 78"weatherbetta turnout, that's hunter green with silver piping.for the "huge"price of $89.00.
it wasn't as heavy as i would of liked but i figured if he needs more warmth in winter i will either spree agin and get an under sheet or just through a  wool cooler of some sort and just get a blanket surcingle.which i already have in my myriad of horse equipment.
will be taking some picks of what i got,will post them when i do.
other half of my money will be spent at the mane event this weekend.but will be a bit more restricted at what i can get as i have 90$ left in my budget.oh well better then going with nil, right?

slightly off topic........

i feel like i have just been repeating my posts, as nothing has changed in training and my riding yet,so i was thinking of not doing posts as often as i have been.like for example once or twice a month instead of every couple days.
and would like to know what would interest my followers and general public reading /looking at my blog.besides vids and pix.

leave comment or email me:)

thank you in advance to all bloggers, followers and everyone in between lol

patience,patience,patience

"patience is a virtue" and is sure being tested alot .as a re- rider i am still battling my riding still while i am riding doran and he is being a good boy through all of it and find myself a bit frustrated by the end of the ride,even when nothing went terribly wrong.my mother and instructor basically say have patience it will come back and just keep practicing. 

secondly like i have said in my previous blog posts is i am being so patient to when i have a arena,which in this case will not be till summer of next yr.riding in a 15 m circle can be quite tough, when there is so much restricted on what you can do in that small of an area.but i try my best to make do.have asked new coach about possibly doing trailer in's through the winter to be able to have opportunity to have arena to ride in and see what doran has to offer in a bigger area ,as i find he restricts his movement in my current "riding arena" (or lack there of).doran can be quite a handful at new/busy places, so will see how it works out.will be good for him anyways as i want to eventually show him.so will be a experience to put to use.

now to my update on my riding progress, i am done complaining..lol...i have had a couple lessons and practice since i last posted and have been going fairly well as can be expected. lessons are working on the same things i have previously posted,keeping going on changes of direction,walk and trot transitions,halts(which he does perfectly),responsiveness to leg aids(still needs work)and getting doran to except more contact,does figit more but after a while seems okay with more in hand,but keeping soft at same time..work on me is still the same eyes up,heels down,body not so far forward,etc. so not much has changed..lessons have been only 30min as we tire out pretty quickly:(  .augh where did my 15 yrs of riding go!! and yet am told i don't look like im struggling up there..go figure.

my newest news is that i will be attending the mane event in chilliwack bc next weekend that is put on every yr that have lots of vendors and clinics..will be my first time going and am excited to go watch bernie traurig(jumping)clinic portion of the event. any of my US followers should know him...so hoping to learn lots from watching the clnic for the 21-23rd of the event. not that often that us canadian riders get BNT from US come to canada..i wish i could of ridin' in it..but oh well nother time.

p.s also planning some nice winter pampering for my horse this yr.so if anyone wants to post some interesting ideas  in the comments ,,plz do:)

well anyways hope to have more interesting updates next blog post and 

hope everyone else is having good times with their horses too.

i will try to keep this one short and sweet.
nother schooling day with doran is doing wonderful..he is learning really quickly.today i got him to:

turn on the forehand both direction w/o halt in between,is getting idea of what leg pressure is. i was proud of him

the others are getting better,but still need work on account of me:
but kept him going around in trot in 2 point,,even got 2 strides of canter without asking, but thats okay.didn't get after him for that as i don't want him thinking cantering is wrong.
i got about 2 solid round without poopin out.  next goal: 3  :)
turning across centerlines-still needs work.

just to let my followers know i am trying to do all this in a approx 15m circle on uneven ground and slope..its harder then you think..if i wish apon a star for an arena,do you think ill get one the next morning?.
we'll just have to see what happens in my lesson tomorrow

horses are the best teacher's young or old

my prayers were answered, as the rain held off for my much anticipated lesson.yay.
today's lesson consisted of some challenges for me and doran,but i like a challenge as i feel it makes me not only a better rider,but gets me that much closer to where i wanna be  those challenges come with their own set of challenges to. explain this in a minute. :)

the 2 seeming simple exercises that i used to do hundred times over before  have become increasing hard as i am not as fit, as i was . and also struggling trying to get my riding skills back e.g riding posture as one of them.anyways the first exercise was to keep doran at the trot around my very small round pen and cut across and change direction,then another round and then change direction again cutting across.
as i was thinking so much about keeping doran going,keeping head up,heels down  sit up etc that i would not only poop out before i would get there,but would then miss my turn and quickly realize i had and not do such a smooth turn as expected..ugh. its amazing how much i have lost over the 3 yrs i haven't been riding. doran was doing well except thinking there was horse eating people by the car that was parked by the fence.would bulge in by the fence."geez doran if my riding area wasn't small enough".
2nd exercise was the inevitable 2 point at trot.yet again simple exercise of going 3 trips around without loosing 2 point.wasn't happening today.i think i got one round..
definitely have homework to do..even with all my struggles and both of us learning,doran has been trying his heart out and is doing very well.think he is even learning fast then i am,if horses could speak"i would say wait for me".we ended on a good note,and gave doran a big pat and hug.
its hard to believe previous barn i was at called this horse dangerous! he is doing just the opposite and is teaching me things.

practice makes perfect!

 today was practice ride day.. for what i got given for homework from Thursday's lesson. so this is what i did

-walk/trot keeping even forward pace
-halt transitions from walk and trot -remembering to keep my upper body from tipping forward,(still trying to
work on getting my balance back)
-turn on the forehand-  getting doran to respond more easily to inside to outside aids, found i had to use taps of my whip a few times here and there and exaggerated my opening direct rein to get doran to understand what,when  and where i want him to go.
all done in both directions.
planning on riding tommorow so it is fresh  for tuesday. even if its raining,will be interesting as i haven't ridden him in rain yet.

on a different note still find myself getting frustrated at the fact i am having troubles with my equitation and co-ordination in my riding from my hiatus....i mean i am a rider who used to ride/ train not only her own,but i would ride/train other's horses and school the schoolhorses to keep them in shape and such.i used to ride atleast 4-5 horses a day and ride without a second thought whether my eyes are up,heels are down or whether my body is keeping in rhythm or position.now i am having to remember or check myself on those all over again.
have other people behind me it will come back with practice and not be so hard on myself.."the perfectionist in me says otherwise"..all i can do is keep my chin high sort of speak and just keep practicing.

overall a good ride and look forward to lesson on tuesday.