I'm actually kind of proud of myself.

Sky.  Yes, I got to actually ride this today :D

Belle!  She has QUITE the engine.

Kiara.  How cute is she??

Hello from Sunny, DRY CA!  NOT the wet, soggy, and now iced in GA :D  First and foremost, I just got a lovely text from Muffin's new child, and she just wanted to let me know she's done 2 N combined tests with him, and even finished 6th out of 12 in her last one w/ a dressage score of 35!  Yay!  My best dressage score on the red headed goober was a 38.5, and I was DANG proud of it!  They're getting ready to do their first full 3 phase in a couple of months.

Why am I proud of myself?  Because I put myself out there to "cold contact" a trainer that I picked out of the air, and I have managed to score myself some AMAZING rides.  And trainer is AMAZING!  And she's even a super nice and wonderful person too, so SCORE!  I haven't had regular, weekly lessons in YEARS, and I'm finally getting eyes on me consistently.  It's so wonderful.  99% of my lessons have been dressage based so far, which is just fine.  I feel insecure jumping horses I don't know anyway, so I find I'm suffering from a little bit of anxiety at the thought of a "jumping lesson".  I rode Kimmie the pony by myself one evening after work, and I carried my crop, strapped on my spurs, and made her go like a good little dressage pony.  She wears my leg OUT, haha.  Took her over some poles w/out her trying to stop/spook/runout which was good.  I got to ride an ADORABLE chestnut pony w/ a stick up mane named Kiara last week.  She was SO FUN.  And I got to jump her.  It was the first time I jumped a horse w/ trainer, and it was really good.  Sadly, my endurance has just been so LOW, it's weird.  I'm still working out regularly but not cleaning stalls 5 days a week makes a difference I guess.  I work SO hard to get them going correctly, and after 15 minutes I'm just dying.  Kiara had only jumped a hand full of times before, so we began just w/ a little flower box and she was perfect.  It ended up that I took her from crossrails to a little line to a vertical, to a crossrail oxer.  I only missed to one jump at the canter, and I only jumped ahead of her on one trot jump, so I would call the day successful!  Loved her, she's definitely a favorite.  Like Spellbound, she is Morgan/TB.

Today, I rode a fabulous Hanoverian chestnut mare sale horse named Belle and ... THIS GUY: Virginian Sky  Holy moly, lucky me, can't believe it.  He was super amazing awesome fantastic, etc. etc.  I figured I'd be lucky to get to walk around; trainer had me canter tiny circles, PIAFFE, PASSAGE, and do 2 lead changes.  I never in a million years thought I'd get to piaffe or passage.  Sky is so amazing.  He's tricky to handle since he's a stallion and he's pretty big.  My instructions were to carry a whip, and once we left the stall to not stop moving.  He can't walk through the barn, we had to enter the indoor by one of the side doors.

I feel SO good since I've started riding these amazing horses.  They ALL go the same.  Soft contact, super responsive off the leg, and obedient in general.  They're all a little different; one may be lazy, another hot, one spooky, one bouncy, one not as consistent in the contact, but at the core of it, when you ride correctly, they go beautifully.  I still can't believe I rode Sky.  He really was a gentleman.  There was a mare in the ring w/ us the entire time I rode, and we did have a few "lose the sh*$" moments w/ a bunch of noise coming from the barn, and getting a little too close to the mares, but overall I just felt so lucky to get to ride him.

In short, I'm glad I took the chance to reach out to someone I didn't know at all.  She took a chance on me, I took a chance on her, and it's working out!  My only goal at first was just to hang out and watch lessons.  I have gotten to ride ...7 different horses so far, and I fully expect I will sit on at least 7 more in the next 6 months.  I just feel so happy to be here doing this!  I'm glad Tiki is happy w/ his child, he looks GREAT.  Fat, shiny, and looking better and better in the sandbox.  Everything happens for a reason, and I'm happy w/ how things are going right now :)