Awesome?

Today Condi and I did piaffe and passage by ourselves.

I think I can decree myself awesome (which is not to be confused with the level Condi is at, which is God-like.)

Cool things

As of late I've been riding Condi, a geriatric Intermediare horse, bareback. He's got this thing about having a girth tightened and a bareback pad doesn't stress him out. It's a heck of a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot on him. The other day we did piaffe and passage bareback. I am a lucky, lucky girl. We couldn't have done it without JM talking me through it, and it's a million times more advanced than I really have skills for, but oh so awesome.

yay!

Penny is no longer anemic! All of her blood work came back normal. We have to wait probably another week for the ACTH (Cushing's) test to come back.

SmartEnergy certainly did its job.

Robert Taylor Clinic

I can say with a fair amount of confidence that Penny probably isn't anemic anymore. I'll find out for certain soon (she got blood pulled yesterday.) Last weekend we went to a Robert Taylor clinic in ABQ. I really enjoyed the clinic. It was at just the right pace (lots of resting) for me and for my furry pony. Pony was full of energy, to the point that she was being fast to the point of almost scaring me. She's been really energetic lately and it was only this weekend that it occurred to me that lack of anemia is likely the reason. What it means for me is I'll be able to take her off the blood builder she's on, one less supplement to feed.

Back to the clinic: on Saturday we did stadium and the jumps stayed on the low side. Robert focused on basic issues that were affecting the whole of one's ride. The local pony club coach has been teaching everyone to keep their hands high, something that Robert said was okay for stadium, but not okay for XC. I have the opposite problem after all my months of dressaging. I'm just starting to bring my hands back up and had to really think about it when I was riding. Penny was a little scary. She spooked twice and threw in a really good buck. I stayed on. My friend that was riding with me said that Robert said a lot of good things about my pony, I couldn't hear because of the wind rushing past my ears as she galloped around. It again illustrated that Penny needs to listen to the bit better. She had her teeth done yesterday and there was enough amiss that her teeth could be the reason, we'll see on that one. I have my fingers crossed. Robert said I was a good rider, which was nice to hear.

XC was fun and Penny was raring to go. We did some of the novice fences and I think a training fence too. The big thing we worked on, and I'm so glad we did, were drops. They're the only thing that I'm nervous about, so getting some good experience with them was priceless. We also did a jump with a roof. R said that the horses don't care about them, the riders do, so just jump the fence like it's not there. Penny and I fought a lot. She wanted me to let her go, but I knew she'd take off at warp speeds, so I didn't. Hence, fighting. R told me I really just need to let her have her head, I know that. We don't have a problem when we're out on course, because she gets enough running to settle. Schooling, because it's jump the fence, stop, jump the fence, stop, was just pissing her off.

I feel confident going into the season. St Johns is in a little more than two weeks. Penny is home this week. She got vet stuff done yesterday and I clipped her and pulled her mane. The farrier should be out today to put shoes on her. She's back to Pony Boot Camp this weekend to get our dressage polished up and then off we go.

Did you know you can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/betterthanicecreampony">
like Penny on Facebook?</a> I think she needs legions of fans.

Yay!

Things are finally coming together for Penny and I. We've had lovely rides the last two days. Not that she's not being her little opinionated amoeba self. But she's listening. And, I finally understand things. Riding R has helped immensely. I also discovered spurs mean I can give a more subtle leg aid and on a pony who does not want to be fussed with subtle is good. We can now trot with her using her body properly. We had some canter today with her using her body too. We've got a gorgeous free walk and medium walk going on.

We have a busy couple of weeks coming up. Clinics and our first event of the year. Yay!

This is me on a Grand Prix dressage horse! I got to warm up DC for JM today. He warmed me up more than I warmed him up. He is one of the slowest horses I have ever been on. The fact that his owner wears spurs and carries two whips makes sense now. I walked and trotted him and got to do a few steps of piaffe (which was awesome!)

I get to ride such fabulous horses. And I am so not worthy.

(I do wonder when the heck my stomach got so big though.)

Eventing Nation had a post this morning about Teddy O'Connor. Sometimes, when I question whether Penny can jump something, I tell myself: Teddy went Advanced and she's the same height. Then I have to add, in my internal monologue, that Penny has no problem with jumps; it's my problem. She did jump 4'6" out of her corral from almost a standstill. Different than carrying a rider of course, but I really don't need to worry about her getting around BN fences.

While I say I have no ambitions past BN I occasionally fantasize about higher levels:
Novice? Likely doable.
Training? Possibly.
Prelim?  Oh goodness, what am I thinking?
Intermediate? Okay girl, now you're really dreaming, but if someone with experience wanted to take her...
Advanced? My husband letting me buy a $20,000 horse is more likely.

But then I think again of Teddy... Penny has a lot going against her, most of that being my experience. But if someone thought she could go Advanced if I'd let them? Oh yes, I'd let them. I'm never going to ride at Rolex, but if my Pony competed that would be pretty awesome.

I dream big. I've always dreamed big. But then I don't follow the dreams because when I've achieved them others like to make me feel like a villain because I have. I'm getting over this (thank you therapist) and it's really what Year of the Pony is about. It's about dreams and hopefully achieving them and not letting anyone make me feel small about it.