Yet another recap post, because apparently I can't post regularly

Bad blogger here, unable to post regularly.  Whomp, whomp.  Sorry all.  The trails around the farm are still proving to be an AWESOME perk of the barn.  I am now to the point that I am working on rating Mia while we run around instead of just going at a full gallop.  I am going to try switching out from the snaffle to a waterford bit for more of this though, Mia is pulling hard enough she (I can only assume, based on the at-home diagnostics) bruised the bone in my ring finger.  Like, seriously.  The joints don't hurt, the muscles don't hurt, the finger doesn't actually hurt.  Flexing doesn't hurt, nor does bending or twisting.  But if you squeeze the very top/bottom of my finger (which was swollen), there is a very significant amount of pain on the bottom of the finger.  Ms Freight Train is going to be trying different bits to play with this pulling habit.

Mare is not amused.

Dressage has been going along fairly well, we actually had a really cool accomplishment early last week.  We were playing with the canter, trying to get her to really push and jump into the gait, trying to get the "up" without the fast and I was annoyed at something or other.  So I wanted something new, switched directions, cantered another circle and simply changed my cues and Mia gave me a flawless flying change.  FLAWLESS!  She seemed SO surprised about it, it was really neat to feel as she thought about what just happened.  She wasn't able to replicate it, she then was getting anticipatory and suspected we were changing when we weren't.  We were able to get 5 changes right to left (2 of which were good) and only 3 from left to right (only 1 of which were good).  We have now stopped them because she keeps swapping behind and I would like only one canter issue at a time lol.  But it was a nice distraction and really cool to experience her true surprise.

Ouchies that occur when one doesn't wear tall boots when galloping on trails

We haven't had any serious jumping sessions since the clinic in June, the barn just weed whacked all of the XC jumps (all 5 of them) so I think I will do dressage tonight, jumping tomorrow and maybe XC on Wednesday.  I had originally planned to do 2 shows this month but unfortunately that all fell part.  Real life got in the way and the first show had to be skipped.  No problem, I still planned on the second.  The second one I won't go into, but I didn't enter for reasons I have never used before.  Really strange and hope THAT doesn't pop up again.  So, no shows for me this month.  I am going to inquire about some H/J shows that aren't far away, a lady from the barn has gone to it before and I am thinking about trying that in the interim.  Right now, the next show is Sept 4th, plenty of time to work on dressage!

In better news, I am getting chummy with one of the barn owners and it is paying off.  She has offered to let me ride in a couple of her saddles to see if I can find one that I like.  I am SO excited about getting a new saddle and despite not shopping yet, I do have it on the to-do.  Riding in lots of saddles is the way to find what I am going to love!  The barn owner and I spent this past weekend at a racetrack as I taught her how to race.  She is going to be one of our drivers in our October race, she is super excited and I am actually kind of excited as well.  I certainly need friends in PA and this is going to be a good way to rapidly expand my network of people!  She has already introduced me to a small bunch of people as "The gal who events AND has a racecar!!!"  At this point, anything to get to know people lol.  I have been here for over 3 months and I literally know/knew only people from my barn.

"Racecar?!  Does Racecar require treats??  Because treats are just for me"

So yeah.  This isn't a super organised post, my apologies.  The past few weeks have been very busy as my mother visited, had the farrier come, had to drive to NJ for a time waster, go to the racetrack and go through normal life challenges.  The next 2 weeks *should* be quiet, because then the next 5 weekends are booked solid.  Let's see how much I can ride and then post about it :-D