Prep School Hippie

It has not even been a month since we moved to the new barn, and already it feels like home. Both horse and I have easily slipped into the routine and there was pretty much no adjustment period.

The fellow boarders are all class acts. Just a lovely bunch of gals. Hampton gets more turn out time and he seems happy about that. Other than a very mild case of cellulitis (nothing compared to the scary episode this summer) last week, he's been in good shape and the time off did him some good.

So while the commute is longer, the stress has been reduced. I'll take it.

My very first riding instructor used to yell at me: "Karen - what color is your horse?!" and I would say "Bay!"
and she would say "YES, now you can stop looking at him!"
... I was 7 and didn't really get the joke until years later.
And I still have that bad habit.

We've picked back up a regular lesson schedule as well, much to my relief. I love working on my own, and doing my homework, but if I go too long without lessons I tend to get stuck in my own little world and stop pushing the envelope.

My current instructor is a keeper. She is a friend, but during a lesson we can check that friendship at the gate. She pushes me to be excellent and pushes me to try things that I would normally think was way beyond my skill level. Hampton goes great in lessons and we come away with homework to keep us busy for a while. haha.

We tried the canter zig zag from the PSG this weekend. It was pretty horrible. But that's ok because you have to start somewhere! Because it was horrible, I was able to find a few holes in the training. I'm working on addressing those issues (horse must react to the aids right now or he will hear about it!!) and I bet next time I try it will at least be improved. Maybe even somewhat resemble the actual movement. I have mad, mad respect for people who make FEI tests look so easy and flowing.

Sprinkled in between our hot mess clusterf*ck not-so-elegant moments are other moments of awesome sauce. Hampton is still developing strength, but he is turning into a dressage horse I think!

Stolen change. At least it was clean and beautiful!

Our flying changes are starting to get pretty reliable. Yes he still anticipates sometimes, but now I have the tools to help prevent that and to ride through those moments. There is rarely any bucking anymore and the collection is really improving.

Interesting that while he is anticipating here at least it doesn't look like this:

His trot is still pretty mediocre so my focus has been to direct that energy up instead of forward to try and get some cadence. Hampton has a really good idea of the passage now (I need to get video of that because he is pretty cool). So I somehow need to channel the passage into a hybrid show trot to help improve our scores in the arena.

We are aiming for a few little schooling shows over the winter (weather permitting, duh) so I can work on keeping him rideable in the arena. We'll stay at Third Level. There has been talk of doing Fourth and PSG next year. I love having a teacher who believes in us that much, so we'll see. Never say never.

Also, Florida was great. It was hot and sunny and we rarely sat still. Visited an alligator farm which was the bombdiggity because I love alligators. I think it comes from my love for Godzilla. Yes, yes I am a Godzilla fan.

Paddleboarding was also so fun. Infact we may purchase a paddleboard for next summer and venture into the big bad Ohio river.

I mean, you'd have to dodge barge traffic, and drunks with their cabin cruisers but ... could be fun?

We saw a school of dolphins while out paddleboarding, too! Neat!