Relocation progress also means little riding

 What a whirlwind of the past 30 days. What has happened? 

1. Went house hunting
2. Got an offer accepted on a house
3. Drove to MI and back in a single weekend - 20 hours round trip
4. Went on a group trail ride at the new barn and met new friends
5. Became increasing frustrated at the inability to find a barn in MI
6. Found some new barn options and are going to go barn visiting this weekend
7. Prep our PA house in prep for putting it on market ie. so much painting, flooring, etc
8. Continue to work my full time job

Somewhere in there I am supposed to find time to ride Mia, it is hard! I have in fact been able to ride though, and it has been good. We have done a lot of trail riding with hills but we have also been doing some arena work to build up both of our stamina and I think it is paying off. I did find a friend in a newer rider who has confidence issues and she has thoroughly enjoyed my helping her. Within 3 rides, she was confident enough to ride down the driveway by herself and was all smiles when she got back. She told me I should consider teaching lessons lol. Been there, done that! I do enjoy it, but I don't have the insurance anymore and I am only really good with beginners. 

Today when I went to the barn, a small jump grid was set up. Do I want to go over it? You bet your bit I do! I have been riding almost exclusively in a halter and bareback pad this past month because my time is so limited and we aren't DOING much, but I threw a bridle on and decided today was a work day. Mia was quite content to do some dressage and engagement work until we went over the jump, after the jump she decided she wanted to ONLY jump we had to have a discussion over my being a driver vs a passenger.

Jumps make happy mares

Her being "bad", though, is so minor in comparison to other horses so I can't be too upset. She never tried to get me off, bolt, or be super naughty. She just really wanted to go and jump and needed to be reminded to do things like wait for the jump, not veer to a jump, and go the speed/gait asked for. She really is the best mare.

I am hopeful that once I get to Michigan I can get my saddles re-fitted to Mia so we can do even more work, one certainly isn't allowed to show without a saddle. Bareback is really helping my strength though, I impressed myself at how well I was able to manage this ride. Maybe I will be able to get to a show before the end of the year after all!