Lesson with Boomer Feb 2

Well. Quite a long time since I last blogged. So let me catch up to speed:
I have been continuing treatment for my thyroid and working on recovery and getting healthy. I have continued with school and after I finish out this semester, I only have one more to complete before heading off to nursing school! (YAY!) I recieved my year end awards competing with  Josephine. We were tied for 3rd place in the schooling jumpers (the tie being with one of my bestest friends!) and also won a champion in puddle jumpers- something I never thought was going to happen! And have also decided to try out 3 day eventing. Though for now, I shall be exclusively riding dressage in order to facilitate focusing on school.

Receiving my Champion and cooler

Hillary and I with our tie ribbons!

Receiving my third place

I was lucky enough to have my first lesson with him since early November last weekend (I know I am late writing the blog on it but sue me). And even more exciting than that, my dear friend Hillary came and was able to take some pictures for me :)

We are gearing up to compete in our first dressage show this coming weekend. We will be competing in Training Level Test 3 as well as First Level Test 1 on February 16th, at our home barn's TDC schooling show. We worked a lot on extensions and working on not having him break in to the canter for the two trot extensions. That has been probably our biggest "flaw" in preparing for this show. Cathy has been helping me get him really engaged so he just pushes off with his back end and then just really extends beautifully. When I get it right, it is just the coolest feeling in the world! His canter extension is so comfortable, too! As well as extensions, we have been working on the accuracy of riding through the tests, and I feel like it is getting a lot better! I am still figuring out my 15m circles, but I definitely feel like they are getting there! After not riding for a few weeks, I felt like I had lost a lot of balance- especially through his bouncy trot- but I feel I am slowly gaining it back and was able to drop my stirrups back down to where they were before taking a short break!

We have also been starting to school over poles! All of our poles are out in our little "field," and I just love riding him out there. It makes me feel "free" as cheesy as that sounds. It is always nice to ride outside the confines of an arena (nice for the ponies too!), and its fun just to be able to get up in a half seat and canter around. He has been AWESOME with the poles too! I know his owner has jumped him before and he has been started over fences, but he is so smooth and so smart! What a cool little horse. I am hoping/planning on beginning to jump with him very soon (hoping for right after our show Feb. 16!). I have been learning so so much just riding him on my own even. He responds so well to body it is easy to tell when I am doing it "right," or a facsimile of riding correctly!

Here are some photos of our last lesson, all owned by H. Whitt Photography:

working on our canter extension

trot extension across the diagonal!

Canter extension

Finally getting better on the trot extension!

I have another lesson this Saturday in order to prepare for the show next week, and my wonderful friend Renee is supposed to be attending and said she would snap some photos so look forward to those everyone :) And until then, carry on!

Catch Up

Well, now that I have some down time and because I got called out for having NOT blogged by a couple of friends a couple days ago I am going to finally update my blog :D

School has certainly kept me busy this semester but I am officially done! I finished my finals on December12th and on the morning of December 13th I was taken in to the operating room to have my thyroid removed. I have been diagnosed with a toxic thyroid adenoma since late July and I have to say, I am SOOOOOO happy to finally have it removed and am on the road to recovery :)

I have been riding a lot lately. I ride Boomer nearly every day. We have moved up to working on our first level tests and movements so we have been working on that lately! Here are some pictures:

I also recently had an opportunity to ride my trainer Abby's horse, James! He was a blast and I got to jump way bigger than I have in a REALLY long time! He is SO different from little Josephine that it was a totally different challenge! Here are some photos from that:

Joe and I have been on FIREEEE lately though. He has been GREAT! We have really been working on my confidence since after the annual show. When I still get angry about that I just remind myself that not every show can be that perfect show. You have to have some experiences that you learn from; and I learned a ton from that show!! My most exciting news as of late is that Joe an I will be awarded a year end championship this coming January for the Tucson Hunter Jumper Association :) I was totally shocked to find that out and SO proud! I actually cried!! Love that little man so much :) Here are some recent photos from him too:

Also got a couple of chances to ride some friends horses recently: Gertie and Domino! I love my friends and am so thankful for them sharing their ponies with me :)

Domino and I are in the middle of my two bestest friends<3

GERTRUD!

I will try to update more frequently and I know I say that all the time but now I have a couple friends harassing me so I probably will! Tata for now!

The past few months

Wow. I haven't been on this blog in forever. But for some strange reason, I decided today was the day I needed to write a blog. So much has happened in the last few months. I have scheduled my surgery for a hemithyroidectomy, I have competed in two shows, competed in medal finals, and have also started on another path in riding as well.

So where to start? With the different riding opportunity of course! Recently I have been given the chance to work with an awesome little dressage horse- Boomer! Boomer is a 3/4 arabian 1/4 standardbred who is re-teaching me how to ride dressage! He is so much fun and I am learning a TON that is really helping me with Joe. I feel the difference with Joe already with how much I have learned! Here are some pictures of the read headed step child himself :)

Now! One of the shows I entered in was the Doubletake Equestrian Fall Show! Hunter day went less than wonderful, BUT! Jumper day was FABULOUS! <3 Joe was BEYOND perfect. I could not have asked for any more from him. We won two of three classes in our .85m jumpers, and received a 2nd and 4th place in the .80m jumpers. On top of that, I was reserve champion in the .80m jumpers and CHAMPION in the .85m jumpers! I was definitely not expecting that much of a success coming out of hunter day, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise! So many wonderful people came out to support DTE at their show, and every one of them was great! Here are some photos from that show :)

Last but not least, I competed two weeks ago in the Tucson Hunter Jumper Association Annual Finals. This show was definitely not our most successful, but I walked away learning a lot. I learned I need to STOP doubting myself and my pony. That gets me nothing but eliminations (a proven fact!). My montra for the weekend that I didn't follow but should have was "don't trust the pony, but believe that he can do it." I know Joe and I can do ANYTHING we want to do. The world is our oyster (lol corny humor).  I have to learn to believe in him more, and above all, not let anything that has happened in the past affect me. HAKUNA MATATA. This was the first time either of us had showed at the fairgrounds since we had our accident there. I let that get to me too much. What happened last year, was a freak accident. It was at the fault of no man. It's time to move on and stop dwelling. Other than just learning from that weekend, I did have a GREAT experience in the medal finals. In the Mini Medal Final, I was placed 5th out of 9 even with a refusal at the first fence (and too bad because I was in LOVE with my round other than that!) and was 7th out of 13 in the Flat Medal Final. I was bummed to be just out of the ribbons, but my pony could not have performed any better. He was absolutely perfect!! Below are some pictures from this show :)

Well I definitely hope it wont be this big of a gap between blogs next time, but school is definitely kicking my sorry butt :( and occupying all of my time! But I am hoping to be out to ride Joe next weekend so look for an update after that :) until then, au revoir mes amis!!

Thankful

Wow has it been a long time since I have blogged. Sometimes inspiration escapes me. Joe sprung a shoe a little over a month ago so I wasn't able to ride him since the show. I had the opportunity to ride both of my trainer's horses during that time and I had a BLAST but it wasn't my pony- I just wanted to have him back. I also got the opportunity to go to Flagstaff with Camille and Hillary to see Camille and Domino compete in the Coconino Horse Trials which was an absolute treat- especially since they came back victorious!

The "gang" up in Flagstaff after a long weekend of showing.
From L-R Hillary Whitt, DOMINO!, Camille Gagliardo, and Me!

I have begun a journey once again struggling with another health issue. I spent a lot of the week crying not being able to understand why I was 19 with a defective body and not able to do everything I wanted to do. I just wanted to be "perfect." Thanks to kind words and wisdom from many friends, I was able to make it through the week to Saturday when I finally got to see my pony and ride again. I have never been so excited to do so in such a time. For my birthday, Renee had given me a photo shoot gift certificate which I finally cashed in this weekend!! I have only seen a few of the pictures- a "sneak peak" so to speak- but they are all so wonderful. Each one captured everything I could have ever hoped. I will share some of the "sneak peak" photos here, along with the photos from our ride that she captured.

©Elegant Strides Photography

©Elegant Strides Photography

©Elegant Strides Photography

©Elegant Strides Photography

©Elegant Strides Photography

©Elegant Strides Photography

Renee also dedicated a blog to us on her photography page (which you should all check out btw!) which legitimately brought me to tears. I had a realization- a coming to jesus, if you will- this week about how lucky I am. I have such amazing friends and such an amazing support group behind me that I know I will never be stuck on my own. I have so many friends always right there to pick me up when I fall. I know how incredibly blessed I am.  I hope each and every person out there knows how blessed they are too. Underneath all the crap in our lives, all of us have that small support group of people undoubtedly there to be our shoulder to lean on. I have been so fortunate too with so many animals in my life to be my friends as well; especially the horse of the moment, Joe. Joe has helped me through so much in the last two years. Bringing me back from my shoulder surgery for one. He was the last horse I rode before going in to surgery and the first one after. He was the horse who shattered my confidence, and then made it come back ten times stronger. He is my shoulder to lean on and my best friend to hug when times get hard. He is the first person I want to tell my exciting news and the thing I want to start my day off. Horses are such an amazing gift. I wish every single person could be touched by the horses the same way those of us who are so privileged to have them in our lives currently are. I have never doubted how lucky I am to have them in my life, but recently it has truly become more obvious how important they really are to me.

I know this blog is "short but sweet" but I don't think I have anything else to say. I am so thankful for everything in my life- especially this dear sweet pony.

To read Renee's blog go to this link!:
http://www.elegantstrides.com/1/post/2012/07/alana-and-josephine.html