Hollie the Thunder Horse

Don't let her laid back look fool you :)
Hollie is officially amazing. I hadn't ridden her for aaaages, and on Sunday I got on her and we thundered around the arena, leaping over cross poles and doubles and such. What an experience! (much to the disgust of Nev and Sienna, of course) Of course, it will probably be harder to get her going without ooles in the arena tomorrow, but I had the chance to ride her, so I kinda know how she ticks. It's all quite amazing.
So here's what I'll need to do, which I discovered in the lesson -
1. Use a long whip, preferably the new black one in the office, which isn't floppy like mine.
2. Double kick when I want her attention (although I don't know if this is allowed in Dressage?)
3. Let the reins go c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y loose on the free walk section, otherwise she will strrain against the contact and then give up.
4. Nudge from one leg to the other down the centre line to straighten her.

Wish me luck :)

They killed Rory!

God, I bleeping hate Stephen Moffat. First, he increases the number of cliffhangers to like, three a month, and then he goes around killing off absolutely amazing and wonderful and funny and kind and just generally awesome characters. See where I'm going here?
They killed Rory!?!!!
Doctor Who is just not funny anymore. Sure, I'll carry on watching, but Rory was like the best bit of the little trio thing they had going on. I was screaming at the television and my mum came rushing in thinking I was being attacked or something. I guess I am a little obsessive, but OMG I hate Stephen Moffat!


...


Anyway, I bought brand new show stuff today - black jacket with velvet trim, white short sleeve show shirt and icky coloured beige jods. The whole effect is rather nice, especially with my Dad's black tie. (He told me he only wears it to funerals, so now I'm getting a bit worried) I'm probably going to be on Tess for prelim, against J on her, because we both requested her for it, so that ought to be a laugh. We had a lesson with N on Friday because Charlie was at the vets... I think. I did the first half on Sisi and the second half on Tess, so I had Sienna for the walk and trot and Tess for the prelim. It actually went really well - warming up Sienna taught me alot about using my seat better in order to stay firmly put in the saddle, and then getting on Tessie was a lot easier. Unlike normal, she didn't break halfway through the canter, or run! It was amazing. Her only fault was dropping out of canter a couple of steps before M, but she was loads better than she usually is. J's been riding her a lot recently, and overall she is being ridden by slightly more capable riders, so her canter is getting heaps better, and her flash isn't being used as often.
N then said she'd try and put me on Hollie for the walk and trot.
Well.
Um.
That's... ok, I suppose? It could be worse. I could be on....
um....

No, I'm only kidding. I love Hollie, I just haven't ridden her for aaaaages, since before her hols. Maybe I'll be on her tomorrow, so I can practice.
Whatever happens on Tuesday, I'll look smart! This is the first test I've done without Tess in the walk and trot, and so far there are only two other under 16s beside me, so it will be a real face off!
I'll tell you how it goes :)
TLCx

Spread the Cow

http://tlcredcow.blogspot.com/ :) enjoy

New Profile Picture!

Finally, paint has decided to work on my laptop, so I was able to create my new profile, 'photo'. The other Ouran one had been... not so relevant. :)
Hope you like, it, and look out for the, 'Red Cow' coming soon!

Deja Vu

Cause Shorty is my Eenie Meenie Minie Mo Lover...
I had another jumping lesson on Friday with Sienna, and she was much more confident in herself, even though she bombed off down the longside when Smartie came past her too close, and nearly dumped me into a bush. We did three tiny crosspoles in the middle of the school - K to M, F to H and a weird little upright at the end. It was great, but in order to get good at jumping, I need much more practice. I'm not great at predicting when Sisi will jump, so I'm usually flung backwards when she takes off. And if I listen to her body as I approach the jump, she has the tendency to either stop or run out. Not that she did on Friday - she was amazing, all hops and skips towards the crosspoles. Charlie later said that she wants to take her showjumping (!). She's be a fabulous little jumper if someone practised loads and loads with her. Unfortunately, I doubt that will be me, for a few reasons -
a) I am now becoming far too tall for her, as I mentioned before, which throws her off balance.
b) I don't often get to ride her as she is slightly more push button than the others, so beginners get put on her, or kids with wincy legs.
c) I have no money to buy extra lessons!

Yep, I'm now officially working towards a school trip to China next year. I still can't believe I got picked! A whole 10 days of 35 degree heat and historical sites. I can't wait!

Next dressage date confirmed for 1st June. Same tests as last time, so lets hope for another win. Of course, I'd love to have Tess again for w&t, but seeing as we have won the past two times, I think that Jacquie might want to drag us apart for this one. According to Jenny, Hollie's been going really nicely, so maybe her? I've never really ridden her before, so it could be fun. But I would like to have someone like... hmm... Ada, Nev or Smarts for the prelim. Ada, because it would be a challenge, Nev because I don't often ride her, and Smarts because I rode him last year and would like to try again without breaking the canter.

Advanced Electrolysis beckons. God, I hate Chemistry. See you later!

Just a little jumping

FINALLY! A lesson I was in that didn't rain! Good old jumping. I wasn't working today because of GCSEs, so came in at 10am to tack up. I was on Sienna, with Smartie, Tessie and Nev. Sienna, from past experience, is quite good at jumping (I jumped first on her), so I was quite excited.
Today I realised I am totally crap at light seat.
My legs are like little tiny twigs that have about 2 seconds worth of strength. If I want to get better at jumping, I will need to ride in light seat for the next... fifty lessons/hacks? What a joyous proposition.
Sienna was super good, I was pretty awful. Wiola said that I need to keep waaay more weight into my stirrups, both normally and when I jump. I can feel it when I canter the smaller ponies, and when I land from the jump. I bump around and jerk the pony. I feel it is partly because I am getting too tall for them. I can't balance properly - I'm always leaning too far back and unbalancing them. I'm not saying it's my height, it is mostly me being a weirdo rider.
But the real superstar (for me anyway) was Tess. Tess jumps like a little kangaroo - seriously. I wish I had a video to put up. She was hardly nervous at all and popped over the jumps. Sienna launches herself over, Nev thunders into them and Smarts... well, he is somewhat of a 6 ton donkey trying to drag himself off the ground. I love you Smarts!
Jumping Sienna was great though, as I can now really understand why I have to ground myself in my stirrups. If I bang into her back on impact, I will throw her off balance and she could fall over. It also helps straight, fast getaway. General heel pointedness helps balance, rhythym (spelt wrong, probably), straightness, security and confidence.
I am feeling very pleased with myself today. I have bought a new blazer :).
From Uni Qlo.

Sunday Fun

You like? It's a chessy named Jimmy :)
Right, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I'm kind of banned from the internet for a while :)
Sunday was great. I didn't ride, but relished the work, because the week previously and the next two sundays I won't be in(exams and mothers). But it was a really nice, with not much drizzle, and I managed to run about 7 laps around the sand school without stopping! I think I'm really getting better at running. I may just try the marathon :P
Hollie was my apple eater on Sunday. I had six apples, and somehow through nudging and soppy looks, she managed to get three. That left me with a very sharp knife and three apples to satisfy the other hungry ponies.
I got more cat scratches on my arm. Every week I am injured at the stables by at least one sharp pointy thing :)
I can go on a training day! Yaaaay! This is because I now work for half of my lessons, so my Mum's really saving money. I am very happy :)
See you,
TLCx

A cantering madgirl.

Another Tessie lesson has come and gone, and with a certain amount of progress. I’m just a little bit too tall for her, so I have to have loooong stirrups, which makes the obvious problem of my heels ever worse. However, after 10 minutes of sitting trot without stirrups (and remembering to breathe) I was able to bounce down into my heels quite nicely when I was rising. We did canter transitions with a transition or figure of our choice before trotting to the rear of the ride, which blew everybody’s mind. We are so used to being told exactly what to do and when to do it that it was a bit of a culture shock. We were starting on Tessie’s worse side, so I decided to not risk a walk/halt transition and do a simple 20 metre circle. Not that it worked very well. I cantered at H and attempted a 20 metre circle at A, only to find that Nevada had conveniently stopped halfway through my curve. So Tessie had to make the circle into something more like a 12 metre circle, and because she’s so unbalanced, she broke. It wasn’t her fault, just mine and Nev’s :). On the other rein, I tried a canter up the three quarter line from C, but that also didn’t go according to plan. When I cantered Tessie just before C, the ride where at the three quarter line near A, so I couldn’t canter into them. Instead I had to do a 20 metre circle in canter (which she did very nicely) and then pop up the three quarter line and behind the ride. I suppose it worked better than it would have done had she gone straight up the three quarter line, as she was (sort of) warmed up for the corner. At the end of the lesson, we were told trot around on a long rein (if we could) keeping the horses slow and steady. I was in front with Tess, then Smarts then Nev. Tessie decided that she was a racing pony and plunged down the long side the minute I released the reins a tiny bit, and Nev decided she wanted to have a better view of Smart’s bottom, and ploughed into him. Smartie just trotted around like a big whale, unfazed. Even when I leant back and stuck my heels out in front of me, Tessie would not slow down. If you half halt, she sticks her head in the air, making her more unbalanced and speedy. I had to take back the contact (at this point I was opposite Smartie when I should have been 2 horses distance away) and haul and release both reins for the slightest response.
But it was kind of fun going speedy Gonzales around the arena :P
Gotta go watch Doctor Who! See you!
TLCx

Smartie Lesson

Okay, I need to be quick as I'm using up precious broadband here. So, hi everyone! Hope you're all well :)
I had another lesson on Smarts on Sunday. I couldn't work the whole day because my Mum has banned me as I need to study for GCSEs.
Boooo.
So anyway, this lesson was in the rain. And poor Wiola was sitting in the shed under a rain sheet whilst we galivanted around merrily on Smarts, Tess and Sienna. On the whole, I feel like I improved a bit - I feel like I'm not leaning back as much and horses no longer take advantage of me... I think. Smartie was very forward going and was happy to splash through the humongous puddles that flooded the outside and inside tracks. Tess, however, was a little too forward going (not anyone's fault! It's just her :)) so I kept doing corner cut offs and such. Then we did only about 2 minutes of jumping position and my legs started cramping up! I'm really out of practice :( But then, I held my legs slightly straighter without gripping the saddle so much with me knees and it suddenly became a lot easier. I wasn't pushing myself out of the saddle, more balancing on top of it. It just made much more sense. And it was much easier to hold my position there too. And then, we did about 5 mins of sitting trot, in which I also need much more practise. When I go to Wellington, I often just sit for the whole of hacks if we trot, or a Dressage teacher will make us do 10 minutes of sitting before he lets us canter. Of course, I was always on a very bouncy, pointy horse who was hell to bounce along on, so I learnt soon enough how to sit properly. I think now it takes me about 5 minutes to get back into it. It's funny how I can lose the ability after only 6 months. I guess it's because I never do jumping in the winter :)
See ya'll later :)
TLCx

Looking out at the Rain...

Ok, this is very very selfish of me, but I'm kind of glad I won't be working tomorrow. Not because I'm tired or I have exams or anything...
LOOK AT THE RAIN!!!
I can't hear myself think! The rain is icy and heavy and the tarpaulins won't be on the arena...
Good luck everybody. See you at 11.
:)