I realized something.

Last night I went with my friend, Elaine , to go see Secretariat. During the movie I realized that the horse that I ride is just like him. He's a determined being. When he does something right, he knows it and when he does it wrong, he, yet again, knows it. He will try with all his heart to do what I want. Last Thursday I fell off and landed infront of him. He nudged me with his nose and started licking me. I rubbed his nose from the ground. When I got up he thought I was mad at him. I wasn't. I was mad at myself for falling off when I should have stayed on. I got back on, patted him, and went to go over the jump again. We did good. Over the past few years i've learned many things. Most of those things are from what I learned from the trainers i've had and the horses i've ridden
Toby- I learned to trust, love and to KICK!
Clark- I learned to be determined and stubborn
Abigail- I learned that I have choices
Jules- I learned to ride with light hands and to never trust barn dogs near the ring.
Grayson-I learned NOT to kick and to be even LIGHTER with my hands.
Ziggy- I learned to be even MORE stubbborn, determined and to stay away from him.
Count- I learned not to trust.
Red- I started to learn to trust again and to use more leg.
Baby- I learned even more trust and to use EVEN MORE leg.
Tripp- I learrned to hate birds and to kick harder.
Reina- I learned to use less leg.

Trainers
Linnea- I learned the basics of riding and to trust the horses and people around me.
Jessica- I learned to be stubborn,determined and to not trust people.
Cindy- I learned to be even more leary of people.
Linnea- I'm learning even more about riding and the trust people yet again and building up confidence in riding again and especially to breathe while riding.

Had a lesson this weekend

This weekend I rode, for the first time since June, in a group lesson. There were two other girls riding with me. Katie who rode Red, Emily (Sp? I know of alot of ways to spell this name) rode Jazz, and I rode Baby. Ok, so at first all the horses were frisky cause of the cooler weather so we had to tire them out during our warm ups. Then we mainly worked on eq on the flat. Emily is new to the barn so Linnea wanted to see what she could do. In the end we all were asking for more cause we were all tired of only doing a posting trot. So Linnea now knows that we all want MORE! But anyway, Baby was ALOT easier to ride. Normally when we go along one of the straight parts of the ring we zig-zag along it. This time we only did that ONCE!!! I was so happy. My legs don't hurt too bad right now from that workout. Haha! But anyway, in October the barn has a fall festival and I was asked to work during it and to participate in a riding demo. So now it looks like i'll be spending the 30th at the barn. Which I totally don't mind! :D

I had a lesson yesterday!

During my lesson on Red, we worked on all my angles. I was having difficulty keeping my shoulders back and my legs stretched down. I think part of the problem with the legs were that I had started out with my stirrups too long then I shortened them 2 holes when i should have only shortened them one hole. OH well. I'll remember that next time. Anyway. We worked on my postion mainly at the trot. Red was really slow at first. He had just done a western lesson and we were like "Red we're doing english now!" He sped up. At the end we did do some jumping. My Eq is getting better over fences I just forget at times and my shoulders come forword and I round my back :( But it'll get better with time. I just have to remember that. I will post pics later since I haven't gotten them off of the camera yet.

Riding yesterday.

My lesson was awesome! I rode a horse named Red, who loves to go fast. Most horses i've ridden like to go slow. So that was a little difficult. So a lot of half-halts were used. My equitation was extremely bad. I know it. Also my muscles really aren't there haha. Also right now, i'm not that confident in the saddle, so the saying "Fearless in the irons" does not apply to me right now. But anyway, Linnea said she'll ease me back into it. It was really hot yesterday, so I hosed off Red afterward. He's sooo cute when he gets hosed off! = ) Linnea had to help me with a lot though, with my arm it's not like I can do that much for a while anyway. I have to get surgery = (

Sadly No riding today.

Well...me typing right now means I did not die today. There were really bad thunderstorms so we couldn't go out on the trail. I did meet the horse I would have ridden though. His name is Red. He doesn't like ANYONE near his stall but once he's outside of it he's fine. Linnea said that he's really fun to ride. Also my trainer brought her horse, Moonshine! I've missed him. He was one of my four-legged partners in crime. *I had many* But anyway, Linnea asked if I was free any day this week after school to come ride. SO i'm going for a lesson on Thursday. : ) It turns out I forgot to tell Linnea that I was riding bareback on my friends horse when I was bucked off... She was not happy with me at that moment. She held her arm to my forehead and i was like "This is NOT a V8 commercial!" I thought she was gonna pop me in the head. SHe was like "I was just checking to see if you were sick!" (She thinks i'm weird anyway) But yeah it was the second day Count had been in NC and Liz wouldn't let me use my saddle so I had to get on bareback. Come to find out Count is TERRIFIED of a car driving slowly by. He bucked me off as soon as i got on. The pic is of me riding Count when we went to try him out. Had to drive 3 hours to go see him. Sooooo boring. ARggg. Oh well thats all i have to say.

School Next week

Sadly, school starts next week. I won't have much time to be online or ride : / . I will try to get on as much as I can. It's junior year this year. Ahhhh! So to get the year to somewhat of a good start, i'm going trail riding with my old/new instructor. Don't ask about the old/ new part, it's a long story that is really involved, to say the least. Anyway with school, I got my schedule recently.
It is as follows.

*1st Semester*

1st Period: Physical Science
2nd Period: Animal Science 2
3rd Period: US History
4th Period: Algebra 2

*2nd Semester*

1st Period: Biotech & Agriscience Research
2nd Period: English 3
3rd Period: Spanish 2
4th Period: Film Critique

So first semester will be harder for me than 2nd semester.
Anybody notice that i'm taking 3 science courses this year?
So anyway....i might post tomorrow. Depends on my day, meaning if i don't get killed by a horse.