Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The big-boy pants come out of the closet...

With the plans of running around the 3-day at FENCE looming over my head, I've made a new vow to keep my horse and myself first, rather then scheduling everyone else over the top of us. I think it's a good problem to have -- growing clientele makes for a busy schedule when you're trying to fit together several jobs, but it also means that P was just stuck in there when I had a few spare minutes to get on him.

Well, this weekend kicked off my new drive to get us to the top first, so I has scheduled a XC school on Saturday, Dressage lesson with "the real deal" aka Dieter Riedinger on Sunday, and a jump lesson with Melissa Jones-Sarle on Monday.

The weather had other plans.

When I woke up Saturday morning, still crossing every toe, finger, and appendage that some how the snow had skipped this area of the country, I was sadly disappointed, seeing as there was about 3-4 inches covering everything.

No cross country school.

On the bright side, the snow did melt quite quickly and I was able to do a trot set up and down the driveway -- not exactly as thrilling as a XC school, now is it?

Sunday's weather looked WAY more promising, so I headed over to my client's ring for a couple of lessons with Dieter -- first on the client's horse, and then on Prophet. P held his own, and spent a very intense lesson (for both of us!), where I realized how much more I should be asking of him! He was up for the challenge and I was very pleased with my boy. I did get some of it on video, however it looks rather boring with us going round and round... hopefully I can get John to edit it so you can at least get the idea.

Yesterday, there was more rain scheduled, but I was determined to get over some jumps -- and I was so glad that I did! This was our first lesson with Melissa Jones-Sarle, and after hearing some very good things about her, I was very excited to get in front of her.

Once again, P did not disappoint! She has a great eye, and caught on to both his and my bad habits right away. Apparently my horse is a bit smarter then I give him credit for and I need to stay out of his way a bit! :) He jumped like a million bucks and I am falling more and more in love with my new monoflap jump saddle every day! I have one more lesson scheduled with her before The Ark, but I feel so happy to have found someone I think can really help us with our jumping (I've been feeling a bit lost since Stephen left).

So excited for the spring season to get rolling... got a busy couple of weeks in preparation for the Ark -- here's to hopin' that the weather keeps on improving!

No comments: