Flexy Pony

Lots of hugs and kisses for my girl today. She tried so hard and you could tell she was concentrating, boy, I was even concentrating!

We warmed up quickly in the round pen and then tacked up. I've been using my old Stubben for Ava lately and love it but sadly it is too small for Babe and too big for me so I think I may sell it to make some cash for my new saddle. Anyways, on with our day! I started Ava at a walk and began asking for some vertical flexion, she was doing okay when all of a sudden she KEPT the posture! Not for a half a second but for many many seconds! I was so proud of her. We then moved on to the trot and worked on some more flexion, looking good but still needs work. We also worked on sidepassing, leg yields, and arena patterns. I then asked for the canter, she didn't do too bad, cantering needs the most work. Towards the end of the ride I was trotting her and then asked for the canter while asking for her head down and poll broken, she did it! That was one of the best transitions into cantering she has ever done. Of course, I am so proud! After that I ended it, although wanting to do that same thing over and over again I didn't want to push her, at least not yet. We cooled off, untacked, then went on a walk towards the outdoor arena, it was so warm, it must have been close to 40 degrees! I may have said before under stress and frustration that I didn't love Ava anymore but the truth is that I could never stop loving her, she is apart of me. If I stopped loving her it would be as if I stopped loving myself.

The Still Life of Ava's Training

Here are two stills from the riding session I video taped of Ava and I. She doesn't stay in this position, but we are working on that. After I took these stills I noticed that in the first one she looks like a western horse and in the second she looks more like an English horse. I am still deciding whether to do western dressage or classical. I may be weighing towards classical a little more just because that is what my gut is telling me but western dressage is new and would be a great way to get my name out there if I wanted to become a WD trainer or whatnot, ya know!

Western looking pony

And an English looking pony

Which looks best?!

Hot but Connected!

I started Ava with some dressage training the other day. It is literally going to be perfect for us! Dressage gives Ava something to focus on, strengthens her muscles, works her mentally, teaches her to respond well and calmly to my aids. I didn't wear spurs for the first time in a while and couldn't believe how well she did. I didn't even notice that I wasn't wearing spurs until now! It also makes me concentrate so much more, I couldn't believe how focused I was, I usually can't focus very well, haha! We started working on leg yields and then worked more on breaking at the poll, she can do it but won't stay that way. I also video taped one of our sessions and couldn't believe that she was actually becoming connected, it was lovely, no hollow backed pony!

I need to work on transitions a lot. I end up working in one gait for too long and basically just wear her out and get her too overheated, which I don't want. She has a lot of potential and in my gut it just feels like the right thing for us.

Not only did I discover classical dressage for us but I just found western dressage! How amazing is that?! It is still very new to the horse world but this intrigues me and we may end up doing this. The downfalls to doing WD is finding a western saddle that fits Ava for a decent price (less than $1000) and finding shows locally will be near to impossible. As for classical dressage I already have a saddle that would be perfect for Ava (less than $800 and english saddles fit her conformation better) and shows would be a million times easier to find around her. I will be thinking about it but for now we will just be working on the basics. This is so exciting! You can check out what WD is below, it is a simple test that someone is performing.

Here is miss girl in her new cooler, it finally came! I love it, I thought it would be more of a light blue but this looks just fine, I am happy with it. I have been wanting a cooler for quite some time and now it has come!