Riding at home

Final and I just finished a wonderful ride. He was very active and forward, while on my aids the entire time. It was like we could do anything. Half pass piece of cake, changes, no problem, a little baby piaffe and passage, what? Easy peasy. It was Heaven! Here's a picture of the baby after our ride, savoring the flavor of his cookies.

PSG, Here We Come!

What's that noise? It's like a nervous rattling and thumping...oh, it's me in my boots! I am pretty nervous to show Prix St. Georges, but, like Ellen said, Final isn't getting any younger. After a few years of working on Final's flying changes, just to get them clean, I'm now starting to work on the tempi changes. It's still an issue, trying to get Final's changes clean, but we've come a long way, and it's now or never. Final will turn 19 this January. He's such a good horse, and tries so hard.

So, what are my main challenges for PSG? Tempi changes and pirouette's. Plain and simple, only not so... My counting/timing seems off in the tempi's and Final likes to loose rhythm and swing his haunches to the right on the left pirouette. But hey, at least I can identify our weaknesses, and I know what to focus on. I actually enjoy the trot work, and Final should score well on that.

So, I'm trying to decide if I should show 4th level or PSG at the show coming up in February. Hmmmmm...to be continued...

Ellen News!

My instructor and friend, Ellen Eckstein, has just published a book! She also has a brand new training website up. I've posted the links under my "links" section. Check them out!

Hello Again

I'm back to posting on my blog! Life is very different now than it was a year ago. Our little Izzy is just the center of our world, but I am still making time to ride Final between 4-5 days a week! People said riding would be set on the back burner once I had my baby, but nope, I knew I could balance the two. Ali watches Izzy while I spend time with my other baby. :)

Katie D., who is a long-time Ellen student, has moved to Davis with her husband while he attends grad school, and she brought her beautiful horse, Willoughby along and is keeping him at my farm! It's been great, we try and ride together each time, offering "eyes" for each other to make sure we're on the right track with our horses.

We also have great arena lights installed, making riding in the dark much more productive! Baby Final is doing really well. We're still working hard on the changes, well, most of the time, and all of the other stuff that go along with aspiring toward the Prix St. George level. I'm aiming for the show at Rancho Murieta in February to debut my first ever PSG ride. Katie even let me borrow her tail coat so I can try and get the correct sizing I need for my own coat! Pretty exciting!

Final & Eva - Late Summer Update

I've been riding again, for about a month now. Ellen was up last weekend and we had 2 lessons with her. They were great, as always. I'm going to post a video so you can see what I'm talking about...Final feels fantastic! I'm really glad I had Susan ride him for me while I was busy having Izzy. Final is loose, supple, forward, and light! I'm enjoying each ride very much! With Ellen we worked on the usual, but I'm learning a very small aid that makes a huge difference. I'm trying to get the feel of catching Final's front feet as we ride. I started at the walk, and the ultimate goal is to catch his right and left front before they hit the ground into the next stride, and take it into a step backward. This makes such a difference in the trot and canter. It feels and looks as if I'm placing each foot exactly where I want it to go. The goal is to make him step higher. It's going to take continued practice to get this aid down, but man, it felt so great! Ellen said it's time to order my tail coat. PSG, look out! Hahaha. Watch for the video soon!

Back in the Saddle!

I'm back to riding y'all, and it feels great! I rode 4 times this past week. The first two times were just at the walk with a thick bareback pad on, and then last Sunday I rode at the walk and canter in my saddle! Last night I rode for about 30 mins., walking, trotting (posting) and cantering. It was great! Final feels good thanks to my friend Susan who has been keeping him going for me while I was "out on maternity leave". I couldn't imagine starting to ride him if he had 2.5 months off! That would have been terrible for him and I.

Now that Izzy can eat from a bottle, it allows me a little more time and freedom to ride and do other things, providing Ali is game for hanging out with her, which he almost always is. I'm going to ride again tomorrow evening after Susan rides him. Pretty exciting! I'm even thinking of maybe a show in November...Starr Vaughn perhaps. We'll see...

Final's Showing this Sunday!

Susan is going to show Final at the Dressage Derby this Sunday in Vacaville. They are doing Susan's Para Test, and then Fourth Level Test 2. I still haven't had the baby, and wonder if I'll be able to watch the show. I sure hope so...but that means I'd better hurry up and have the baby, or be overdue and not have her until after the show on Sunday. Ha, we'll see!

Susan is also going to show Final at Pebble Beach over Fourth of July weekend. I have a hotel room booked for that, but of course, we'll see what happens with Isabella. I may be overwhelmed and not be up for traveling with her so soon, so we'll just have to wait and see. At any rate, with them luck! :)