August 26, 2011

I have been having an amazing time here in NY! My days are crazy busy but I'm enjoying every minute of it. Now that I've been here for a while my schedule and day to day tasks have become more consistent. On a typical day, I arrive at the barn at 7 AM. I help feed, turn out horses, clean my assigned stalls and take care of Cookie. Once my morning chores are done, I teach an adult amateur rider at Sunnyfield. On the days I don't work with her she lessons with Lendon so it's been very educational for myself to watch her lessons and later apply the same concepts in the sessions I have with her.

I am loving the horses I've been getting the opportunity to work with. In addition to Cookie, I ride Amalie (Intermediare 1) and TJ (4th level) 6 days a week. I'll have other horses thrown into my rotation but on a regular schedule Cookie, Amalie and TJ are the horses I ride when I'm working. I am incredibly grateful to get to work with such great horses who are teaching me so much in addition to what I am learning from my lessons with Lendon on Cookie.

Throughout the day in between rides there is laundry, sweeping and tack cleaning to be done, as well as other tasks such as inventory and shopping trips to the hardware store, tack store, ect. I usually wrap up my day between 4 and 5 PM and head back to the house where I'll do work for Lendon whether it be house chores, filing, or computer work. Tonight after I got home from the barn I prepped Lendon's house for the incoming hurricane!  It shouldn't cause too much damage because we are inland but the wind and rain are going to be intense so everything that can be brought in has been and the cars will likely have to be parked across the street at the grocery store out of the way from trees that may fall. I will be staying at the barn tomorrow (Sat.) night and possibly Sunday night with some of the other working students because the roads won't be drivable.  I'll post again once the storm has passed and I have internet connection again!

* Also for those reading my blog who aren't on facebook, Cookie and I received our invitation to compete at the Junior National Championships at the 2011 Collecting Gaits Festival of Champions in Gladstone, New Jersey Sept. 8-11. Wish us luck!*

Thursday August 11, 2011

Had another great ride on Cookie today. Lendon has me working on getting him very forward and through, particularly in the canter. His trot work is fairly good so she has me working on keeping the cadence and energy in his gait from extended trot to collected trot so that those transitions become more seamless and his quality of the trot stays the same. His canter however, has always been a trickier gait to manage. If he is too collected he gets slow with his hind legs and creates almost a rocking horse feel making our lateral work and changes labored and incorrect. If he gets too forward though, he can get strong and stiff through his body and ignorant of the aids. To work on his adjustability and control in the canter, Lendon is having me ride him in a forward (faster) canter and riding him round, deep, and straight through his body. Once he is comfortable being supple and adjustable in a more forward canter, bringing him back into a collected canter is more successful because I am taking the forward canter I began with and collecting it back into shorter, higher steps but with the same amount of energy and throughness we maintained in the forward canter stride.  Our changes (which have a tendency to be labored and late behind) have been clean and accurate and his responses off my leg and seat have been sharper. Though I am riding him deeper than I would in a show ring because of his tendency to be too open and against my hand, it has been crucial to my rides that he stays deep from his obedience to my half-haults and not because I am holding him in with my hand. If he is truly through and supple, he will hold his frame and balance if I release my hands for a moment. If he stiffens or comes above the bit he is not through and I will continue to ride him forward and deep, all the while using tools such as shoulder in, counter flexion, and sending him forward and bringing him back while maintaining a soft neck and body.

I apologize if this sounds foreign to any of my non-riding family and friends. I'll continue to update my blog with posts about things other than my lessons as well. I will be reading back on these posts to remind myself of key points from my lessons. Hopefully these posts may be helpful to other riders reading my blog as well... Goodnight!

Wed. August 10, 2011

Had another great day at the barn today:) Im loving it here in New York! I feel completely settled into my day to day routine now. I had a lesson with Lendon today and it went great. I'm looking forward to all the progress me and Cookie will make over the next month. She is such a great coach and I'm so grateful for this experience. I've got another early morning tomorrow but I just wanted to post a quick update and I'll post key points and notes from my lesson and more details of my days tomorrow evening. Thanks for following, Goodnight!

Bedford, New York!

First of all, let me apologize for not posting in a while. Thanks everyone who has been following my posts! Things have been crazy since I got to New York. We pulled out of the Kentucky Horse Park around 7 AM Monday morning.  The drive from Lexington to Bedford went smoothly but took longer than expected and we arrived at Sunnyfield Stables 14 hours later. Cookie had an unexpected trailer mate for the haul to Sunnyfield. We took a horse belonging to a student of Lendon's that was competing at the NAJYRC as well. Monday night was a late one, we didn't get checked into the hotel until midnight. I drove my mom to the airport at 6:30 Tuesday morning, stopped by Lendon's house to drop off my bags, and then it was on to my first day at Sunnyfield.

The first day was kind of hectic meeting everyone and learning the ropes but today (being my third day) I feel fairly close to being settled in. I've met all of the grooms, clients, and other working students and everyone has been very helpful and nice. I'm still trying to learn all of the horses by name and by stall but with 50+ horses it might take me a while. A typical day for me so far had been getting to the barn around 7 AM and doing barn chores and riding until about 4 or 5. From there I head back to Lendon's house and help her with filing and house chores. The days are long but I'm loving it here. The weather is perfect, low 80's and sunny, everyone I work with is great, and it's so beautiful here! There only thing I could do without are the biting flies. Lendon left today for a clinic and will be back Monday. I took my first lesson with her yesterday, and will start posting notes from my lessons on my blog as well. That's it for now, I'm off to bed. Goodnight!