Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone's Christmas shopping complete, this being the eve of Christmas Eve, but for those who procrastinate (like me) look at it as having a whole day to complete that last minute shopping (and I will see you in the stores tomorrow!).

My early Christmas present to myself - the Becky Holder clinic - went SO well. Every since I moved my horses away from the barn with the ring, I'm always surprised at the progress P-man has made when I get the chance to to ride in one. Saturday was no different. He warmed up great and I tried to take it easy since I was a little unsure how he would handle the 2 hour lesson, condition wise. Although I was very tempted to just keep going and going since he felt so cool - but opted to wait on Becky to finish the previous lesson instead.

And the lesson went awesome. I would highly riding under Becky when given the chance. We worked a lot on adjustability and straightness, and P-man was a star! She diagnosed my issue where I allow him to get crooked in our half halts, and it's amazing how when I ride correctly, he actually responds! We also did a million transitions within a gait, throwing in some leg yields to help P get up through his shoulders and working from behind.

The clinic, hosted by FenRidge Farm, had the advantage of having a HUGE ring so we could do three loop serpentines over three sets of poles (1. Collected trot 2. Medium trot 3. Extended-ish trot THEN 1. Collected canter 2. Medium canter 3. Extended-ish canter THEN adding fences in them). It was a great exercise with all the horses showing increased balance, rhythm, and ridability.

He was also a blast on the XC portion, where we didn't jump a lot of fences, but worked on elements (banks, ditches, water, etc...), after all, there's only so much you can accomplish in one lesson. Looking back at the video of our ride, I'm very pleased with his expression and how he progressed each time a new question was asked. He's just using his brain so much better then he did two years ago.

I will try and get the video posted on here soon (when I figure out how to!).

Right now, we are driving back to my hometown to celebrate Christmas. I'm definitely looking forward to next week with my mom comes back to North Carolina to put Prophet and I through Dressage boot camp. We are going to culminate the week with a schooling dressage show down in Southern Pines where I'll get to see Prophet show under my mom!

Merry Christmas, and stay warm!

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