Equestrian Chic

Hey there! I'm actually in Las Vegas this weekend, so I'm not going to have any more riding lessons until next week (boo!) unless I can convince my friends that we need to go riding... which I'm sure would never ever happen. So instead of discussing going around and around a pen, I thought I would talk about riding gear.

I currently ride western, so my line dancing boots have come in really handy. I wear my Tony Lama boots for riding, mostly. I have two pairs of Tony Lamas: the Black Thoroughbred boots and the Tan Santa Fe boots. I don't typically wear my black ones though, since they really need to be resoled. I also have a pair of turquoise Justin Damiana boots, which I adore. They're just the prettiest color. I don't like to wear them for riding though, since they get kinda dirty and beat up. I love my Santa Fes, but I think if my black boots were wearable, I would wear them way more than the brown ones.

I do have a pair of riding pants, though. I have navy blue TuffRider cotton schooler breeches. I like that the knee patch protects my legs, but I think they could be better looking. They collect dust really easily, so they always look dirty. They have a really high rise (I call them my old lady riding pants), which is okay since it keeps my butt from hanging out, and the waistband is just ugly elastic. I always wear shirts over them, because they look so funny. Then again, they look kind of weird with my cowboy boots. I like the look of jean breeches, though. I wish they weren't so expensive, or I would have bought some already! I'm also tempted by full seat breeches, since my seatbones always end up a little sore if we ride for a long time. I really like these, even though they are knee patch breeches and not full seat.

I kind of want to get a pair of english boots, too. DeDe told us after our first lesson that we should consider it when we start riding english. I guess I like the idea of half chaps. I went to a tack shop to get my breeches, and when I went in, I tried on a pair of Ariat lace-up paddock boot and a bunch of different sizes and styles of half chaps, and I really liked them. I felt like they supported my legs a lot. And I feel like they would really help me keep my heels down, because of that. My major issue with paddock boots though, is that I really like my leather-soled boots. All paddock boots seem to have synthetic soles! I found one pair of Justins that have a leather sole, but they have a really western look, and I'm not sure that I like it.

I think that I would prefer a simpler boot. Also, I kind of want a brown boot, but that seems to be impossible to find. All of the brown paddock boots are really dark and not so exciting. I found this picture on pinterest and love this look, but I have yet to figure out what boots these actually are. I would be all over that if I knew.

I love love love that look. I think that's basically exactly what I want. Except, I want leather soles. Then again, sometimes my feet slip a little in the stirrups while I'm riding. It would be really hard for me to get used to walking with rubber soles, since most of my shoes are leather, but maybe it would be a little safer. On the other hand, if I was in danger, a leather-soled boot would slip right out of the stirrup and I could dismount more quickly. I'm not entirely sure, but I know I am extremely comfortable with leather soles. Any thoughts?

I'm also loving the "Equestrian Chic" look lately. I saw this picture (also on pinterest...) and fell in love with the look. I'm definitely going to be looking into getting some slouchy long-sleeve shirts, sweaters, and english boots for the fall! And wearing them with my hair done and red lipstick ;)

The Right Direction... Sort Of

I had the best lesson ever yesterday.

I was really bummed though, because Julie couldn't join me this week, either. She threw out her back, so she really couldn't come. It makes me sad! I miss her. And I know she misses her lessons.

I rode Porsche. She's great. I think if I was going to lease, I would seriously consider her. She was a little grumpy yesterday, since she had been worked pretty much all day. Not hard work, though. Basically she went at a walk with kids riding her for a long while, so she was a little frustrated by the time I got on.

I saddled her today, which I was really happy that I got to do. I didn't cinch it tight enough again, though. The saddle was sliding all over. Note to self: the cinch has to be really tight! Next time I'm going to see if I can put the bridle on too. Speaking of which, I was riding with a western headstall yesterday! It was interesting. The reins are connected, but they aren't a circle. There's a bit of rein past where they connect, if that makes sense. You control the reins with your non-dominant hand, and hold the end in your other hand, on your leg. You pull on the end of the reins with your dominant hand to shorten them. It's a bit complicated to explain, but it made sense after playing with it for a little bit.

Porsche was kind of stompy when I hopped on. She was okay for most of the lesson though. We walked circles around the round pen and practiced turning. DeDe had me look, turn with my shoulders, use the reins, and this time she also had me push Porsche through the turn with my outside leg. It took a lot of leg! I was really surprised at how much pressure I had to apply to get results.

I also learned about "working her from underneath." I've heard the term before, but I didn't really understand what it meant. DeDe explained that when Porsche is walking, she should be taking long enough steps that she puts her back hooves into the hoof prints left by her front feet. She told me to squeeze Porsche with my calves to get her really moving. It felt very different once she responded. Much faster, and a slightly choppier, less ambly shambly gait. DeDe told me that it rounds out her frame... or something. Something good that I didn't quite understand.

We then practiced moving up into the jog. I'm getting much more comfortable with it! From Porsche's faster walk, it was much easier to ask her to trot. There was less of a jarring, lurching feeling moving into the trot than when she's dragging her feet. DeDe didn't have me on the lunge line this time. I let the reins hang loose and held onto just the horn, and let her do her own thing once she started jogging. I'm feeling much more comfortable with the idea of it. This time I was able to think about what to do while I was riding as well: keeping my heels down, looking where we were going, etc. DeDe asked if I wanted to try canter, but I wasn't feeling brave enough. I'm kicking myself for it now!

Porsche was sort of acting up toward the end of the lesson, though. She kept trying to open the gate, and she didn't want to turn the direction that I would want her to. She would stay too close to the rail and bang my feet on it, or too far in and try to get to DeDe. She just didn't want to listen. DeDe ended up getting on her and "tuning her up" for me. She just let the horse know who was in charge, because it's dangerous to have her trying to get out the gate and whatnot. I got back on and went around once or twice, so Porsche would understand that she has to listen to me. We just went around the pen twice, and she listened when I asked her to get on the rail. We ended the lesson ten minutes early, since she was obviously frustrated. I was really proud of myself for not getting freaked out at her acting up. I didn't even realize it until DeDe mentioned it. I must be gaining confidence :)

I untacked her myself this time. It wasn't too hard, just unwieldy! So many things to do at once, especially while removing the bridle and putting on the halter. I got all mixed up, and if Porsche wasn't such a good girl, she might have taken off on me. One day I'll be good at this!

I was really happy with how my lesson went yesterday. DeDe and I discussed taking a break from the arena next week and going on a trail ride instead. I really hope we can do that! I feel like it'll be a really good lesson in itself. DeDe also told me that Julie and I should take a lesson with her with her dressage teacher sometime. I know dressage teaches lots of fundamentals that you can't learn anywhere else, so I think that would be a really great idea.

I'm only getting more excited about this whole horse thing, when I thought it was going to start to calm down. Does that happen?

Goals

I thought it might be a good idea to talk about the things I want to learn and accomplish from working with horses. I figure it's important for me to keep these things in mind when I'm riding.

In the short term:

• I want to build confidence
• I want to feel comfortable with Luca's young horse behavior
• I want to be able to groom and tack up a horse on my own
• I want to ride alone comfortably
• I want to feel confident riding Pandora
• I want to canter! :)

In the long term:

• I want to build confidence
• I want to feel comfortable and capable interacting with and riding horses I don't know
• I want to be able to ride trails
• I want to do groundwork easily
• I want to ride Western, English, and bareback well
• I want to lease a horse

One day:

• I want to be really confident with horses
• I want to buy my own horse
• I want to own a stable and fill it with ponies
• I want to buy a young horse and train it myself
• I want to teach my children to ride

I know a lot of this revolves around confidence. The reality is, I'm not sure of myself when I'm riding or dealing with horses. I know it's not safe to be that way. And it makes me uncomfortable, too! I want to feel happy and not nervous when I'm riding.

I turned down the opportunity to go on a trail ride for the first time, because I didn't feel I'm capable enough. My friend Ellie has been riding for a while now. Maybe a year or so. She told me her instructor has a really sweet horse, but he's just been gelded, so he's still a little crazy. And on top of that, she rides a mare, so I'm not sure what his behavior would be like. And I know her trails are like an obstacle course. I just didn't feel that I'd be in control of that situation. It made me really sad to have to decline the offer :(

I'm going to try to keep these things in mind over the next few months, and hopefully I can improve on these things. 

How to Trot Badly

I'm happy with the way things went yesterday.

DeDe changed our lesson to Monday, since she got a job hauling a horse to Oregon. Julie couldn't make it today, though, since she specifically requests Wednesdays off work. So she was trapped at Starbucks today :(

I talked a friend into coming with me. Her name is Thania. She's never been on a horse before, but she had kind of a crappy week and I figured seeing and petting the ponies would make her feel better.

We actually got there exactly on time, which felt really weird for me because we always show up a half hour early. It was kind of a good thing though, because DeDe had a lesson before us. The student, Raul, was still on Porsche when we got there. We got to watch him trot and lope, which was pretty cool! I'm excited for the day that I get to canter.

DeDe and Raul untacked Porsche, and then DeDe put a different saddle and bridle on her. It was Raul's saddle, and he is a little more advanced, so he rides one-handed with a shank bit. I ride two-handed with a snaffle.

I had a bit of an adventure when I got on, because DeDe asked me to check the girth. I thought it was tight enough when in reality, it was really loose. It kept sliding all over. DeDe had to tighten it.

Thania wasn't sure if she wanted to get on, so she watched while I got on and practiced turns at the walk. There were some cones set up in the dressage court, which I practiced turning through. DeDe had me trot for just a little bit, too.

DeDe had me let go of the reins, hold onto the horn of the saddle, and push my weight down into my heels. Then she cued Porsche for a slow jog. It's really hard to keep from bouncing all over the place! I sort of lost my place after a little while. My heels went up and I was really bouncy, and I felt uncomfortable overall. DeDe stopped Porsche and asked me how I felt, and then had me hold onto both the horn and the back of the saddle. She told me to pull downward as I pushed my weight into my heels.

It felt much better, like I was being lifted out of the saddle. That made trotting much smoother. I felt a little bit more comfortable with the idea of it by the end of the lesson.

Thania ended up hopping on at the end of my lesson. DeDe led her around the dressage court a couple of times, and then I led her around the barn, to the hitching post. We untacked her, brushed her down, and then I led her into her stall and took her halter off for the first time. It was actually the first time I had helped untack at all.

Thania really liked the stables, which I was really happy about. When we were done, we went and fed Pandora and Porsche. Thania wanted to walk around and see all the horses, so I took her to see all the extra pretty ones. I think her favorite was Lacey. Not surprising! Lacey is easily the prettiest horse in the barn. She's such a sweetheart, too! We got to pet her for the first time, and she is the sweetest, quietest horse.

We also had a conversation with Pandora's owner and Dolly's owner (they are friends. Dolly is a chestnut paint horse with white just on her legs and face. Very pretty!) about leasing horses. They told Thania and I that when we are ready and feel like we want independent riding time with a horse, leasing is a great option. They told us that plenty of people at our stable lease, and that depending on how many days a week you want, it runs $100-300. They went on to tell us about a feed lease, which is more expensive, but it means that you are the only one who rides the horse. I have to say, if I was going to lease any horse in the barn, it would be Lacey. I love Pandora, but I feel like I'm not going to be at her level for a long while.

I felt like I really ended on a good note. I love riding Porsche because she is a confidence builder. I adore Pandora, but she definitely isn't! I'm excited for the day that I feel like I can really ride her, though. :)

Frustration

Today kind of felt like banging my head against a 1200 pound wall. It was just a weird, kind of sucky lesson.

Julie and I usually arrive about a half hour early for lessons. We've done this every time we've had a lesson so far. I didn't last Friday, but that was only because I thought she had someone scheduled directly before me. However, when DeDe got there, she seemed surprised and irritated that we were there early. I guess she has been stressed lately. She is sort of in limbo with her housing situation and is currently looking for a place to live. In our past couple of lessons, she mentioned it, but she was still her usual peppy encouraging self. But today, she definitely brought it all with her.

Julie and I kind of expected to ride today. My heart sank when DeDe said we were going to be doing groundwork. It makes me really nervous and uncomfortable, frankly. I know I need to get over it. I want to have horses one day and it's something I need to know how to do. But... I guess riding, in the end, gives me a confidence boost that groundwork does not. I know Julie feels the same. Probably more so, since I seem to understand the concepts of groundwork a little better than she does.

This time we each had our own horse to work with. Julie had Lola, and I had Luca. The reason we haven't ridden Luca yet is because he has an abscess on one of his feet. I was a little confused about why we were taking Luca out today. For one, he makes me nervous because he is young and a bit nippy, he has been cooped up in his stall and has a lot of energy. For two, he has an abscess. The vet said to hand walk him bit I felt like this was putting a bit of pressure on me. He was fine leaving his stall, but on the way to the round pen, he decided it was time to jump around and get excited (spooked?), and I freaked out a little. It was a bit embarrassing, really.... I didn't exactly scream, but I definitely squeaked and dropped the lead rope. He's just a bit too high strung for me still, I guess. DeDe took the lead rope and took him into the round pen and lunged him for a little bit, let him roll in the dirt and whatnot, but in the end he was too lame for her to be comfortable with it. She put him back in his stall and brought Porsche out instead. I didn't really understand why we tried him in the first place. He scared me quite a bit and it put a damper on the rest of the lesson for me.

Julie had a lot of issues with today's lesson. I don't know if it's just because she was being a butt or didn't understand her or something, but she had a lot of trouble getting Lola to do what she wanted. I felt bad. I felt like the lesson ended on a really sucky note for Julie, and she seemed really bummed about it. I did a teeny bit better, but I'm not sure if that was because I understood better, or because Porsche was more willing to listen to me. I still wished that I felt like we accomplished something besides being awful at groundwork.

On a brighter note, we bought some black licorice, which is Pandora's favorite treat! She was really excited about it. Julie snapped a couple of really cute pictures of me with Pandora, and one or two with her super-sweet next door neighbor. We couldn't take pictures of each other doing groundwork, since we each had a horse. Which is a good thing, I guess!

She let me pet her for all of about one second.

I kept pulling her over, trying to get a picture holding her head, but she was not having it. She wanted to know where the rest of her licorice was!

Silly Pandora! It's all gone.

I love this horse. She's amazing. One day I'll be able to really ride her!

It's really bothering me that this picture is a different size from the others, but Julie took it with her phone and it's just sooo cute!

InstaPonies

I'm kind of addicted to instagramming pictures of my buddies.

I have about 45 pictures on my instagram, and probably a quarter of them are pictures of horses. That doesn't sound too bad, except that there have been 8 in the past month... and I really don't think it's going to slow down. I feel like the only really exciting thing going on in my life right now is this. And I've been trying to take lots of pictures.

I thought I would share some of my pictures. I enjoy looking at them and playing with them to make them pretty for instagram. 

Some of them are pictures I've shared before. 

Some I haven't. My accidental pictures of Luca are some of my favorites.

I took these two before I met DeDe and started riding. I find it so funny that I thought he was so cute that I posted both of these!

It's actually gotten so bad recently that some of my friends have been asking if I bought a horse. I wish! I'd love to have a pony of my own to love on all the time!

But one day... I will :)

A Pain in the 2600 lb Butt

Pandora... Oh, Pandora.

She's super pretty, and really sweet... but she's a butt. She gave me a really hard time today.

Grooming her was kind of an adventure. She's just so tall! I could barely reach up her back. She was great while I was grooming her, but she really didn't seem happy about tacking up. She kept trying to walk off. Not only that, but we had to put a different bridle on her, because hers was all weird. The bit was hanging way low for some reason. She seemed really unhappy about all that.

I was excited to ride her, but honestly I was also really nervous. Pandora is just so huge! It's a little scary. DeDe took her around the round pen a couple times first, to show me that I really needed to push her, because she's so strong and so huge that she can easily do her own thing if I didn't show her I was in charge.

That's something I have a really hard time with. I want to ask the horses nicely to do things for me. I don't want to kick them, I don't want to yell at them. It works with some horses in some cases... like Porsche and Lola. They want to go forward. But Pandora really really doesn't. Pandora needs to be pushed, and hard.

I was constantly kicking Pandora, through my whole lesson. I just couldn't kick her hard enough to get her to pick up her feet. DeDe told me that part of my issue was that I pulled on the reins at the same time as I kicked her, so I confused her. Eventually she got me a riding crop to smack her with, but I couldn't seem to do that either. I don't know if it was just the way I was holding it, but I couldn't hit her very hard. More likely it's that I was afraid of hurting her... which is silly.

Getting her to stop was an adventure. I had the same issue with the reins that I have with the kicking and the crop. I had it with Porsche and Lola, too. However, because Pandora is so strong and so big, I got over it quickly. I feel much more comfortable with yelling at her to "ho"and pulling hard on the reins now.

I trotted for the first time today too. I was a little (read: a lot) nervous about that. The last time I trotted, when Lola took off on me, I felt really insecure. I definitely felt insecure when I trotted on Pandora, too. DeDe said that Pandora has a pretty smooth trot, but still... all that bouncing makes me feel unseated. I kept wanting to hold the horn, but then I couldn't steer or stop, which was kind of scary. I felt really proud of myself for stopping her on my own, with the reins and yelling at her, while trotting. I that may have been my biggest accomplishment today.

Or it might have been getting her to trot in the first place... I had to keep wimpy-smacking her with the crop and kicking her and yelling to get her to go! I really want to work on my confidence and my take charge-y-ness over the next few weeks.

I don't have as many pictures today, since I didn't have anyone to take them while I was riding, but I did get a couple of Pandora in her stall.

Since it's Friday, I hung out for a while at the stables. DeDe gave me some extra time in the saddle since it took so long to tack Pandora up, and then I stayed and watched to next lesson, helped the kids groom Lola, helped lead Luca from his stall to the round pen and back. We had a little bit of an adventure with Lola, too. She used to be abused, and we assume that they whipped her face and head, since she has scars there. When DeDe was taking her out of the cross ties,  she freaked out. She pulled back and practically sat down on her hindquarters until the cross tie broke, and took off running to her stall. DeDe went and caught her, and everything was fine after that. She said Lola doesn't like things around her face, probably because of the abuse. 

On another note, I hurt myself somehow! I think I scraped my arm on the saddle while dismounting. Pandora's so tall that I guess I was clinging to it a little bit.

Oh, Pandora... You're so pretty! Why are you such a butt?

Getting Comfortable

This week's lesson went much better than last week's. I was sooo nervous last week. But this week, as I sort of started to do things right, I got a lot more confident.

This week we rode Porsche. I thought she was the Tennessee Walking Horse, but I guess I was wrong, since DeDe said she's a quarter horse. She was such a sweetheart though! All she wanted was for us to pet her and give her love. It was the sweetest thing. And I could tell Julie liked her much better than she liked Lola!

We started the lesson with groundwork first. It was super intimidating! She makes it look so easy, but when I'm not on the horse, it's a lot harder to ask for what I want. DeDe has us lunge Porsche, but it didn't work so well. We're really bad at it! Julie had trouble getting her to keep moving, and I had a hard time asking her to go faster. We're thinking that we're going to do groundwork once a month, so we can, one day, be better at it.

Julie rode first this time. I took pictures while she reviewed last week's riding. She practiced taking Porsche around the ring at a walk, stopping, turning, and backing up. She looked way more comfortable this week. Way less nervous. I feel like she's doing really well, considering that she's never been on a horse before these lessons. The only thing I think she really needs to work on is sitting up straighter in the saddle.

I felt much better about my time in the saddle. I still definitely felt nervous as I was getting on Porsche, since groundwork didn't go so well. But I got comfortable really fast. The first couple times I asked the horse to stop, she didn't listen well, but DeDe stopped me and told me to hold the reins closer to her mouth, be very loud and firm when I give the command, and if she doesn't listen, then hold the reins back until she stopped. Immediately, I felt a huge difference and a huge confidence boost!

Turning was sort of interesting, too. The ring was a little muddy, so Porsche kept making these huge wide turns to avoid it. I felt much better about turning this week though. DeDe told me to look in the direction I wanted to go, move my shoulders, and then use the reins. It worked perfectly :)

I'm really happy with the way lessons have been going. I'm taking an extra lesson by myself tomorrow, which I'm really excited for. Maybe I'll get to ride Pandora!