Trail ride!!

A bunch of us trailered to Fair Hill with our trusty "Coach". After a couple days of being stallbound to keep his feet dry and treat 'scratches' Daniel wanted to GO!

We had our first canter (the first one that I asked for, anyway)!!

So did AnneMarie and Mona!!!! It was awesome!!!

practice day

Today I didn't have a lesson, so I went to the barn to practice some of what I did in my last lesson. I haven't ridden in two weeks, so we took it easy. When I went to Daniel's field, he was just head to hoof MUD! Good thing the big goof was wearing a turnout sheet, since that took most of the mud.

I brought him in, groomed him, and tacked him up. We went to the dressage arena, and I did what Lee told me - I put him against the wall so he wouldn't swing his butt out when I was in mid-air :-) We warmed up at the walk, both directions. I practiced trotting, 2-point, and hopped over little cross-rails. There were trot-poles set out, so I practiced 2-point over them too. When he got bored, we went to the jump ring and trotted around obstacles and hopped over some of the low stuff. We walked down the driveway a little bit, then went to the dressage arena to dismount.

I gave him a soft pretzels, a couple carrots, and brushed him after I took his tack off. When he was clean-ish, I put his turnout back on and took him back to his field. Of course, he went right up to the round bale!!! :-)

Sundays with Daniel

I found Daniel when I was finishing my undergrad degree at Penn. 40-something, fat, arthritic, taking classes on my lunchbreaks for 5 1/2 years, and a job that was making me insane, I started looking for a place to take driving lessons.

I found Legacy Stables in MD. I started taking not driving, but riding lessons on Daniel!!! He took such good care of me that before I knew it, I was half-leasing him and my Sundays were then carved in stone. I spent Sundays with Daniel, either taking lessons, riding on my own, or sometimes just driving down to groom him. He helped me stay sane. When I was up on this 17.2 Percheron, who spent his formative years as an Amish plow horse, I forgot about everything except staying on! :-)

It's been about a year an a half since I started spending my Sundays with Daniel. I have a much better job, and I'm in grad school, but I still spend my Sundays with Daniel. I've still got a lot to learn, and it's finally time I started tracking what we've done so far.

The first time I rode Daniel, my instructor, Leeandra, wanted me to start riding him bareback. BAREBACK!!!! He's 17.2 and weighs a ton! Was she crazy??? We had to put a 3-step mounting block on a trailer ramp so I could get my fat ass and arthritic back and knees up on him! But, I found it therapeutic for me. I cleared my mind of everything except balancing myself on his back, adjusting to his movements, and just staying on!

Now, a bit over a year later, we're walking, posting the trot and trotting 2-point, and jumping little crossrails. I dislike jumping, but understand why I have to know how to hop little things. I'm looking forward to our first controlled canter (we've cantered accidentally before!!!)