It's been a while since my last post, and SO much has happened!
On Tuesday, Amanda came out to ride for me. I was almost positive she'd be perfect for what I need, but now I'm know I made a great decision. First, she jumped Patrick around. She seemed to really enjoy him, and he was so good for her. She was quite brave, and willingly jumped anything and everything; she even went down the triple, and he's still a bit inexperience at that. When I asked her what she wanted to finish up on, she asked to jump the coop! I pulled the poles off the top and set it up for her. She rides in the hunters and equition, so her position is very forward, and Patrick took advantage of her the first time around. When she came back to it again, she was much straighter and more aggressive, and he jumped right over it without hesitation. It was amazing to watch my little boy all grown up!
After Patrick, I wanted to jump Bella around a little bit, just to start prepping for this weekend. I hopped her over everything, and she was jumping super. Her rhythm was dead on, and my eye was really there for me. Since she was going so quietly, I put Amanda up on her. Bella is something of a superstar at my old barn, and all the girls love her. I hope she gets to make a few of the other girls jealous! She jumped her over just about everything (minus the big coop), and I made the liverpool it's full 4 feet wide and set it at about 3'3". I'm not sure how much experience Amanda has over 3'0", but she jumped it beautifully!
She thanked me afterwards (and quite honestly meant it, which is rare in kids these days!) and went off to ride her own horse while I finished up on Bailey.
Yesterday, Bella had the day off because she was just so good on Tuesday and it'll be a busy weekend for her. I did a light flat on Patrick, just to get him stretching out, and I flatted Bailey again. She's really starting to get strong, which means she's quite good at picking fights when she wants to. I don't like taking so much contact with her mouth, but it's to the point where I almost have to, or she goes balls-to-the-wall extended, so to speak. Thankfully, usually when I take up contact and really push her into it, she calms down, backs off, and rounds up (at least for a few strides, before she decides to test me again).
Last night, I realized just how good Patrick was. Amanda texted me and asked if I needed any more help riding this week. I had planned on working them all myself, since I have to take them to the show this weekend, but Patrick is only doing the 2'0" division and I know the jumps won't be the issue, if anything. So I told her she was more than welcome to come flat him this afternoon, and she was at my house promptly at 11am. We rode Patrick and Bella together, and I gave her a mini-lesson to help get her seat positioned more correctly to ride my horses. She's a very pretty rider, but she has a very American seat and sometimes lets her shoulders get in front of her seat. This makes all of my horses back off and go veryyy sluggish, because they aren't being engaged. By the end of the ride though, she had caught on and Patrick was very stretchy. I was extremely pleased:)
To round out the afternoon, I did another lunch session with Bailey on the trailer. She's more than willing to hop right in there now (one fantastic thing she inherited from her mama). Then I got myself covered in berry pink and grape purple spray paint as I painted two more poles. They are gray/pink/purple and actually go quite nicely with my flower boxes. I also painted two more standards white, but they need another coat because I used cheapy $0.97 white paint. And then, ladies and gentlemen, I started cleaning my tack room for the first time in about 4 years. My goal is to paint and wallpaper it this summer. I know, I'm probably dreaming...especially if I get this job. Speaking of which, I've already created a list of horsey things I need to buy once money starts coming in...cross your fingers for me!
Picture update coming soon. I need to show you all my jumps, and I know there will be photos from this weekend's show!
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