Dressage Test Down

It was nice to tack up and not be dripping sweat before I even rode. I put the De Gauge on Frankie again and I have been riding him with the running attachment. Even though today would have been a nice day to ride outside I headed for the indoor to work on the dressage test. I warmed him up for about 15 minutes before I tried to master the test. Frankie was a bit sluggish today, which I was surprised about since it was cooler outside. He picked up the pace after working on transitions.... Read More

Oh yeah, gotta learn the dressage test…

Another hot day and a long day at work. I didn’t feel like riding. I was in the mood, but I was really tired. Then I remembered I had to learn the training level event test A. Oops. I put Frankie in the loose ring and the De Gauge. It was cooler than yesterday, but still really humid. I was planning on a short ride. I didn’t work on anything, just warmed him up and ran through the test once with Codi reading for me. Pretty uneventful, uninteresting ride. The... Read More

Heat

I really wanted to ride, but it was REALLY hot. Not just hot; humid too. I needed to get some sort of excersise in for both me and Frankie. I threw the loose ring and De Gauge on and headed to the outdoor. The heat had taken 30% of both mine and Frankie’s energy before we even got in the ring. Frankie was really good and even though he didn’t have a ton of energy; he gave me everything he had. It was a short ride, mostly working on transitions on the circle. No... Read More

Unsatisfied Ride

I didn’t want to ride today. I was in a foul mood, I was tired and sore. It was late and I just really wanted to go home, eat, take a shower and curl up on the couch. Yesterday was an unproductive day for riding. I ran out of time and was WAY too tired and sore to ride. That really bummed me out because I had been planning all week for a big jump day for Saturday. I tacked up, put on the pelham for good measure since he didn’t get ridden yesterday AND the day before... Read More

The Road to Water

Today was a beautiful day. Since the trailer is getting “reconstructed,” I haven’t been able to school anywhere. My next event is in a week, and Frankie doesn’t go into water (reliably) yet. Since that is a problem, I decided to take a road trip across the street in search of water…any water. There are tons of trails across in a park just over the way, and I was told also a creek and a pond. Not exactly a cross country water element, but it’s... Read More

Short but Sweet

Finally a nice day. Not raining, not humid, not too hot. I put the De Gauge on him with the running martingale attachment. Of course, I’m still using the Myler loose ring and am very happy with it. I set out to perform transitions that are soft, round, relaxed, and timely. I also wanted to work on a circle line, but wasn’t planning on that being great because of the running martingale attachment. Frankie was a star! I wasn’t sure how he was going to be today... Read More

Riding is fun.

It was really hot and humid today. I was sweating just standing outside. I wanted to ride, but not for long. No training gadgets today, I was planning on jumping. I wanted to work on gymnastic and balancing exercises today. In hopes to help keep that good jump Frankie showed me on Saturday. I went out and set up the following: an X with 5 trot poles – a pole 7′ from the X and the other four, 4′ apart. a wide, low oxer – it was about 3′ and about... Read More

Boring…

Again, I didn’t feel like riding today. I had a massive headache (and still do). I got out to the barn and felt that I must ride. I decided to use the De Gauge as a Chambone, so I took the running attachment off to see what he was like without it. We rode outside and we went railless again. He was much straighter with less drifting. I liked the De Gauge without the running attachment for everything BUT transitions. That is where he would still fight the discomfort and... Read More

Going Railless

I had a long day and wasn’t much in the mood to ride. I knew that I needed to. I didn’t want my bad mood to rub off on Frankie, so I went into the barn all business. He seemed to get the idea. I put the De Gauge on and headed to the outdoor. Someone, or maybe more than one rider, had been rail digging, so the rail was gutted pretty bad. I decided to work inside the rail. That is always more difficult than it seems. Without the outside fence, it’s much harder... Read More

His Withers Bruised my Chestbone

Beautiful afternoon for a ride. Josh was with me so today was going to be a jump day. After one day on the meds Frankie’s leg already looks better. I put the pelham on him and put the cute purple ear/eye net to protect him from the nasty bugs. Frankie knew it was a jump day. The bit in his mouth and Josh out setting jumps was a dead giveaway. I wasn’t about to fight him and try to make him do dressagy flat work. Instead I just asked for him to at least not be completely... Read More