365 days of Tribal Infusion

my-borrowed-freedom asked: So i saw in your picture of you and caddo at your show and i saw that you were holding a crop. I've never seen people use them so why do you carry them with you?(:

What do you mean you never see people use them?

If my horse stops at a fence, I need to have my crop there to reinforce my aids. I smack him if he stops, or I reinforce my aids by giving him a tap if he backs off of my leg while we’re going around. Also, a lot of times if you hold it on horses that are slower or whatever they perk up because they know you have it, though I don’t have that problem with Caddo haha. 

Also I use it while I’m warming up if he isn’t using his hind end well, I’ll give him some taps just to wake up back there and start working!

I suck at this blog.

Lol. I never post about my rides and stuff anymore.

Just had a show. Caddo was awesome, clear round in .95m stopped out in two 1m classes and fell in one 1m class. -sigh- next show will be better.

Day 75

April 17

Caddo’s off to the show today!! I leave after school, too. Hope he’s okay for the 4 1/2 hour drive. I’m so excited!

P.s. happy 10 month anniversary to me and Caddo!

Day 72

April 14

Caddo was good. He’s settling down, so hopefully he stays chill at the show. Jumped the ditch at the trot and canter both directions and he’s getting so much braver.

Day 71

April 13

Friday the 13th!

Our lesson was SO fun!! We played the telephone game while riding in the woods. So one person would make up a sentence, then while we were trotting it would have to get around to everyone, then back to my trainer and the last person came up with a new one, etc. Then we did it at the canter. It was so much fun! The horses and ourselves got a good work out and it was really fun, too. My legs are actually pretty sore!

Day 65

April 7th

Caddo was super duper. We did really tough combinations and he was amazing. We did uphill, short one stride to long one stride, then raised the last jump to like 3’6” maybe a little higher? Then we did it the other way, a long one to a short one going downhill and did the same about raising it. It was really difficult! But he was great and it was a really good lesson :)

Didn’t get video though.

Day 64

April 6th

Caddo was a superstar today!! Couldn’t be happier with my ride! We did courses and he flew over the liverpool like it was nothing, some of the jumps were higher and the lines were tough and the turns were REALLY tough! I’m so proud of him, and myself too. It was difficult in our first course, I kept letting him run flat, but the second time we did it I stuck my butt in the saddle and it was PERFECT. We got this REALLY hard hairpin turn down perfectly, too! 

Caddo and I over the liverpool! :D

Day 63

April 4th

Schooled xc today… Every time we school cross country, I realize just how chicken I really am. But I’m gonna have to get over if because apparently the majority of jumping that we do in the summer is in the woods.

I do realize, though, that it makes me such a better rider. I’m always on my toes about what he may or may not do, always sitting tall and in my heels and really riding 100% of the time, because I never know when he will spook, or stop at a jump, or over jump it, go off bucking, etc.

I can tell already that this summer is going to make me a 20x better rider.

Can’t wait to get back out there and show those xc jumps what I’ve got.

Day 62

April 3rd

I skipped my post for march 31 because frankly, I’ve been quite busy.

We jumped a liver pool for the first time Saturday! Yay Caddo!!! Super proud of him.

Today was very good. Amazing flat work, he’s really coming along.

Me on the other hand…..

I feel like I’m getting so weak and losing tons of muscle and I feel like my riding is going down the toilet.

Day 58

March 30

Sorry forgot to post this!

My ride was really good! We did this really difficult exercise in the woods where we had to do a tight circle, and there was a jump in the path that started as a ground pole, then like 2’6” and then maybe 2’9” or 3’. It started out bad with Caddo and bleh. But my trainer was like “You know all the formulas to do this correctly so use them, stop getting your emotions mixed up in riding” and then I did it again and really rode to it and she said it was perfect, and that once that switch goes on I ride really well. 

Here’s a picture of mr. pony boy doing the exercise 

Pay no attention to my TERRIBLE form. It’s quite embarrassing, actually.