The good news is that I am still here, still kicking, still occasionally riding. The bad news is that I am not riding regularly as I did things like prepare for Thanksgiving, take a mini-vacation (OMG SO RELAXING!!), continue taking care of the entire farm by myself and start painting the 2000 sq ft farmhouse by myself. Yeah... I have been busy!
Most of the riding I have done have been trail rides. I went a full 2 hour trail ride on the 13th and it was really nice. Mia was very well behaved for most of it, she had a spooking session over a water tub (really horse?) and then decided to kick out when we were cantering and I was holding her back into a dressage canter instead of a fun, forward canter. She got a spanking over that and told she will canter as advised or no canter will be allowed. Otherwise, things are going very well. Mia is nice and sound, yay! App is mostly sound, NQR but he is also almost 23 with arthritis. He is on 3 supplements a day plus a monthly injection of polyglycan so there isn't too much more we can do. TWH has been plagued with lameness since he was sold to K, first he had a suspensory issue (different leg than in 2013) and then he got an abscess. At least she rode him for a full year first, she knows he is not usually like this! Fun times!
No Stirrup November came and went all too fast, I rode probably only 10 times but each ride was in fact stirrup free! Including one jump session of a cross rail. Woohoo! I tried to jump App but again, unfortunately, I am brought back to the conclusion he can't see as well as he used to. Sometimes he jumps it perfectly, other times he very awkwardly hops over it like he isn't sure what to do. Since he has jumped for 10+ years, over 3 feet, he knows what to do so his sight is the only thing I am coming back to. If it is outside, bright and a fairly solid/thick jump (like a log), he jumps great. If it is a pole outside, usually ok. If it is a pole (PVC or wood) inside, he jumps it, at best, 50/50. Poor old man.
My goals in Dec is to ride a bit more and get back to having some fitness. Having 3 months of solid slacking off and not doing regular riding has very obviously affected my stamina in the saddle. Some solid two point is coming my way. Once I get that, my goal is to start jumping again in January. I want to start seriously jumping too. I want to work on getting real height and getting a solid position over them. Mia jumped 3'9" over the summer, I want to start getting more comfortable with that (gulp!!!) and add serious width. Time to find my balls people, I want to get to Training level in 2017 and I am not going to get there by jumping 2'9" all the time!
My dream is to be able to take lessons however it isn't likely to happen, unfortunately having 2 mortgages has put a big damper on doing all the fun things. You know, like chiropractor, another saddle fitting, clinics, lessons, tack ho splurges, etc. If anyone wants to donate to a lesson fund, let me know! Ha!! Hopefully things are going to slow WAYYYY down come next week, maybe I will have time to ride AND blog about it. I have the next 2 Thurs/Fridays off of work, one can hope anyway!
