May 27th

Oops late update! I don’t remember much from last week’s riding but it was very basic, just conditioning/practicing the dressage test. Bubbles was superb and his trot is just spectacular. The improvement is just crazy and I’m so so so excited. I left for NYC on thursday morning and just came back a few minutes ago (hence the lack of updates). Its really bad timing since I have my first event this weekend and Bubbles was going so great. I would have really liked to just keep his workout consistent and keep doing what I’ve been doing all the way up to the event but hey what can you do. So I’m heading out to the barn monday to practice my dressage test then I’ll be doing some xc fitness training on tuesday. He’ll have wednesday off as to make it an easy transition for him back into his working routine. Also that way I can ride him everyday up to the event without worrying about him being a little lazy/tired on the big day. Thursday, I have a lesson so we’ll be practicing a stadium course with big scary jumps and friday/saturday will be light working days with hacking and dressage test practices. I’m hoping we can start off the exact same way we finished so hopefully he remained a good boy over the last few days haha

Nonetheless, I had a blast on my trip! Great times with my friends and it was so great to spend some time together outside of school like that. Lots of smiles and laughter and a shit ton of money spent on clothes and activities! Really went and saw it all; Manhattan, Time Square, Brooklyn, Harlem, everything! A bit overwhelming for such the non-city girl that I am but overall a fantastic experience!

May 20th

Friday: Went to the barn and just practiced a couple things in the dressage ring. He was superb; really lovely trot and gah amazing canter work. Then there was a lady and her kid I guess that came over to watch but they just like appeared out of nowhere and the mom was just standing there creepily and the kid was just running around in the bushes and shit. It caught Bubbles (and me) by surprise and he spooked and just kept on freaking out about it. I guess the mother got the hint and left but Bubbles was already worked up and just completely distracted by that point. So we just kept working on our trot once again until he settled and started working like he was before that point. After that we just went on a hack to finish off the ride.

Saturday: Went to watch the jess phoenix clinic with a friend and it was soooo hot out. I went to ride around 7h00 and it was still super warm out. Did a jump schooling sesh that went alright. We warmed up in the dressage ring and his trot work was nice but didn’t come forward as quickly as usual. I suppose he was being a bit lazy with the heat and all. His canter work though was REALLY great. He would get a bit crooked and start leaning in but as soon as I would straighten him up, his hind end would activate and his poll would start flexing and ugh it was really good. Then we went out in the jump field and just worked on a little course. He was super excited to jump so a bit strong. We had a triple combination, three long strides to a short two so I really had to ride for that. A couple of doubles and lots of uprights. He was a bit sweaty afterwards so I rinsed him off and then grazed him for a bit.

Leaving thursday morning for NYC so I’ll probably do another tiny jump school on tuesday and then maybe practice my dressage test on monday and then finish off with a conditioning ride on wednesday. Hopefully we have nice weather but nothing too hot.

Whoa, now that was long post. Sorry followers.

May 14th

So yesterday was the Radical Jumper and it was tons of fun! Great weather and the course was really lovely. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to do the training class since it started later than expected but we finished on a good note so its not a big deal. The PT course was 3’0ft and had a drop,bank,ditch and water crossing so basically made for a perfect schooling course! Only the first and last jumps were stadium fences so the rest was all xc. First class was a real mess (as expected). He was really full of it and made for a hell of a ride haha. We started on the wrong foot and got the first rail down (not a bad distance or anything, just either a misjudgment on his part or lack of support at the base from me), then we tried to redeem ourselves for the second jump but got a bit of a long spot and then it was all a bit of train wreck from there. Didn’t come in to the next jump with confidence and kind of barely made it over and after that was a big rolltop/table thing (don’t really remember exactly, but I remember walking it and being like ‘oh fuck he’s not going to like this’ ) off of a right downhill turn, came in disunited and yeah so we got one refusal at that. Overjumped it the second time but got over it regardless. After that was the infamous drop that he REALLY did not like haha. Caught him a bit by surprise the first time and refused and then tried a couple different tactics with no different results. After getting it done he was really worked up and just so strong and we finished the rest of the course but it was so exhausting omg. Jumped everything else except for the wide ditch which he refused once but it was kind of a half stop, like I feel as though lets say it had been skinnier or if he had done the other part of the course with confidence, he would have probably jumped it. But yeah, jumped it perfectly the second time around and then jumped the last jump beautifully. 

Now the second course was much smoother. Really leaped over the first fence making sure he wasn’t going to get that rail again and then everything else just flowed really nicely. Still a bit strong but this time it was more out of excitement rather than worry. Everything came out of stride and he really launched over some of the fences haha made it kind of hard to stay with him but it was really cute and really fun! Jumped the drop, ditch and bank like a pro as well as all the other ‘oh so scary’ xc jumps! Overall really good experience for him and a great way to school around. Obviously he’s still a bit too spooky for my taste and isn’t going like he does at home but we’ll get there eventually. Just part of having an inexperienced horse (especially one like Bubbles who’s basically the biggest baby ever). 

Noted improvements: He’s really starting to know the drill of showing; even though it was our first show he got off the trailer and went straight to grazing, not really agitated by anything. Really rideable in the warm up ring. Although a bit fresh he was really focused and was working on the bit right away which we never had last year. Much more comfortable coming towards stadium jumps and def doesn’t back off as much to the bigger fences. 

Still to work on: His confidence and the whole ”I-have-to-look-at-everything-that’s-scary-before-jumping-it” phase. So basically we’re just really going to have to capitalize on schooling opportunities because he’s old enough now and its time he gets over it lol like its got to go. As for me, I need to work on reorganizing a little more effectively. Oh and get new gloves. My reins kept on slipping, uggh so annoying. 

NYC in a week and a half and the Park in 2-3 week! Need to start practicing the PT dressage test right away and look around for cheap dressage saddles. Hacking planned on tuesday, dressage test practice on wednesday and conditioning planned for thursday. Lets hope the weather keeps up! 

Oh and I found out what I have are shin splints. Such a pain in the ass. Have to take the next 1 or 2 weeks off of running. She suggested to stop riding as well but I can’t do that so I’ll try and keep it easy and not do a whole lot of half-seating or standing up in my stirrups. Fml sitting trot.

May 12th

Alright, so friday I went out to ride and decided to do a little jump schooling since it was nice out. Didn’t jump for long or high, mainly focused on jumping some jumps that he typically stops/spooks at. So basically we worked with a ditch for a bit and then went out in the jumping ring and did some skinny brushes and chevrons (which he HATES). Went super well! A bit hesitant to some jumps but I just kinda gave him a little tap with my crop and of course since he’s so sensitive he would just go. Got pretty excited and worked up coming to some of the more scary little cross country fences so I just focused on not riding backwards and just sitting up to make sure he wasn’t coming in flat. That way he was able to keep the forward pace (which he was comfortable with so I wasn’t going to wrestle him into something more collected) but I still had him between my hands and my legs and obviously no refusals so I was fine with that.

Today he had a bit of a cough (he’s fine, I think its just the drastic change in the weather and the thick humid air) but hopefully he won’t have it for tomorrow or else that would kind of suck, although he’s actually not too bad once we start riding. But yeah, just did w/t today to get him loosened up and make sure he was all sound and ready for tomorrow!

Looking forward to the radical jumper, I’m hoping to get a couple pictures so we’ll see. My objectives are just to use it as a schooling opportunity. If there’s banks/water/ditches I’m just going to really take my time with it (he’s never done a ditch other than at home and we’ve only done water crossings which was months ago.) I’m kind of hoping there’s lots of that so I know what to expect from him when we come across these elements at training level. We won’t have too many schooling opportunities to practice or get him used to those kind of jump elements before upgrading so yeah. Just overall going to try and see how he feels, if he’s forward I’ll let him be as long as he’s not barreling into the fences and if he’s tense than I’ll just take my time with the whole thing. Only signed up for the two pre-training classes since we had restaurant reservations for mothers day and there’s no predicting what time the training class will start/finish at. I asked the owner if I could add a class the day of and she said that was fine so there’s a big chance I’ll get to the training class as well. But yeah looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully this nice weather keeps up! :) 

May 9th-10th

So yesterday was Bubbles’ birthday! Can’t believe its going to have been 2 years that I’ve had him. The time literally flew! Unfortunately we kind of had a shitty ride. Not because he was bad or anything but we went to ride outside and had warmed up and everything and I’m not even joking, in a matter of seconds the winds were so strong and the rain was coming down it felt like freakin hurricane season. And of course I was riding alone at the front so you can’t see any other horses but you could hear them galloping on the other side of the barn and yeah Bubbles was shitting his pants. Got back to the barn and decided to just groom him and braid his mane over (again!).

Today was a decent ride. Rode in the arena since the winds were a bit strong and cold and I only had a sweater with me. Did lots of transitional work and practiced our test once or twice. He was working superbly on the bit and was going forward but was a bit too forward and strong at times. Hence why I worked on transitions, in hopes to get him to settle down a bit. Worked well and overall a pretty good ride! Usually do my conditioning rides on thursdays but since I’m going to ride him tomorrow he won’t be getting the day off to recover. Plus I was planning on hoping him over a couple fences tomorrow or saturday and I still wanted him to have a bit of energy for the show on Sunday.

On another note, I’m not doing so well. Booked my first appointment with physio for next week. I’ve been avoiding it for the past 2 years since I’m guessing the diagnostic isn’t going to be pretty but its been so bad lately that I really can’t put it off any longer. My knees have started buckling up again and I’ve been having intense pains and strain in my shins. Hurts when I walk and I’m not recovering, like it just gets worse and worse every day. And I mean I can deal with that, but its gotten to the point where I can barely support myself out of the saddle. Riding around in my half-seat or trying a two-point position is almost unbearable. And of course there’s running too, which I haven’t been able to do all week for obvious reasons. And since I’ll be going, I might as well get my wrists checked too. Uggh, so sick of all these coming and going problems. I mean I’m 16, this should not be happening. Don’t really know what else to do, like I take care of my body and I haven’t done any drastic changes in my workout/riding/running routines so I have no idea where this is all coming from. Anyways, I’m hoping its nothing serious but yeah, obviously I’m getting kind of worried.

Hope everyone had a lovely week!

May 6th

Yesterday was kinda of a meh ride. Went out in the dressage ring but just wasn’t really feeling like it so went for a bit of a hack and rode in the grass fields. Tried to get something accomplished but couldn’t really set my mind on anything so we just finished on a canter around and then a hack.

Today I had a fantastic lesson! Super fun. We did a very versatile course (sort of in prep for the radical jumper). We had a triple combination on really collected strides, big upright oxers, skinnies, and we had some new chevron and brush fences as well as like a random tire jump haha. Worked around with that, obviously had to take the oxers at a very forward show jumping canter, but then we had to take the collected triple combination (jumps were set small so we just had to come in on a very short but powerful stride, similar to a canter coming towards a ditch/drop/little coffin) and then finally having to take the xc fences at a cross country pace. Yeah obviously we worked on other stuff too but I won’t get into it, overall it was very good haha

May 2nd

Alright so Sunday I had my lesson, and I can’t remember much of it now but it was really good! Jumped a vertical then a broken line to two little jumps that were 2 strides apart then a broken line again to another vertical. We worked on the elasticity of our stride and shortening it up quickly. Learned a lot about various ways to use my seat effectively and it was a good reminder for me not to go straight to my hands. Very helpful lesson!

Monday he got the day off as usual and Tuesday as well since he got his ‘physical’ and two shots as well as a dewormer. Today I had a fantastic ride. Rode in the dressage ring and practiced my test once, worked on transitional work and collection/extension. Trot is coming along great as always but today I had amazing canter work! Finally got the feeling of that prelim canter we’ve been working on. He just used his hind end so much and brought himself together like never before. I was super happy with that! Finished my ride with a couple serpentines/simple changes and a working trot on a loose rein. So lucky to have such an amazing horse!!