Connor

[Jules]

you guys are soooooo wicked together!!!!!! I can't wait for the summer!!!! haha!

[Julia Hindy]

What are you showing in the summer?

[maria]

Thanks girls I am going to show in hunter's (though not 100% what height) my hack classes, and my eq u/s for sure. I'm still trying to figure out if i'll do eq o/f. However I'm not sure what horses I will be riding in each class. I KNOW I will do o/f with Connor for sure, but I MAY, big MAY, be showing another horse, in just a couple flat classes. That has JUST been talked about, so nothing definate yet!

As for dressage I will show Connor, (and maybe the other horse) w/t.

Depending on how we do in the shows we may up the levels, but we are def doing these classes for the first one Then we'll see how it goes, he was so good in the dressage clinic, AND when we jumped for the first time in months at clovelly, so you never know.....

[Becca]

my suggestion maria..
stick with the one class height for the season. that way you have better chance to get a highpoint / champion at the end of the year but schooling higher at home is awsome. last summer i schooled boone 3'3 but only did 3'0.

and whoo is this other horse?!?

[maria]

Really? So, can you explain the highpoint/champ thing to me?

[Becca]

you didn't go to the banquet did you?

depends on how many shows you go in, how many people are in the class, and your placings. these all get added up at the end of the year & show. you get more points the more people are in the that class. i.e if there's 5 people in teh class and you get first you can get 5 points (i dont know how the point system works, but im just using an exsample) and in another class there are 20 people and you get third, you get 10 points..

at the end of the day & season they add up your points. a highpoint champ is exsactly that, you had the highest total of points but didn't go in all the NEA sanctioned shows. a champion you have ot go in all NEA sanctioned shows.. even though you didn't get the highest amount of points, she still competed in all events needed(or atleast the most out of everyone ). i beeelieeeveee that's how it's worked.. correct me if i'm wrong.

now that's if you stick to ONE devision.

if you go in different devisions you have a less likely chance to get a high point/champion because your points are counted towards thoughs seperate devisions.

[Julia Hindy]

I thought each place was a certian number of points.. like 1st was 7 points or something like that. I am probably wrong though

[Becca]

depends on the number of people in teh class. if there are 5 people in one and 10 people in the other, you'll get more points the more people atleast from what i'm aware of!

[maria]

Sounds good! Thanks for the info everyone Anyway today i went down to the barn and tacked up and had a lesson. I was really relaxed and spent a long time grooming him and slowly tacking him up. He was really good! Usually when i put the saddle pad and dressage saddle on him, he flings his head, but today we were taking it nice and slow and he was perfect Then we started warming up by doing walk/halt transitions. Sue had us working on walking, then halting, then walking in a straight line without drifting. Surprisingly it was pretty hard, 'cause i kept letting go of my outside rein and not using and even amount of pressure in both my legs Then Sue had us do this cool exercise. It's like two point 2 steps, sitting 2 steps in the trot. It's to help strengthening up my body so i can do sitting trot even better. We worked a lot on center lines, and straight lines, and holding the outside rein!!!!!!! I tend to lose contact with it when i try to fix something else

In the end Connor was really good! we did a couple VERY VERY nice halt transitions from the walk and trot, and I managed to keep him straight before, during, AND after when we walked away from it. I was very proud of my boy

[maria]

well, I rode the con man today again. He was pretty good. we did w/t and LOTS of serpintines to get him listening to my leg. We also worked on bending to the inside of our circle and staying straight when we walked in a straight line. we also did lots of transitions. He was really good After that me and Ruth walked them in the field, and up and down the driveway, he was a superstar!

I also rode Rudy today!!!!!! I got on him bareback and walked him up and down the road and then we went for a trail with Ruth and Hannah. When i was riding him in a circle at the top of the road, he was going to fast, and slipped and fell down I went over his shoulder and ended up on the ground oops! haha, i was fine though. I just got back on him and we went for a trail. Both my boys were superstars! although when you look at Rudy from the front he looks like a tub! LOL! ;D

[Jacqueline Pike]

wow sounds like you had a fun day. good thing no body was hurt in you fall

[izzy1618]

I really want to she you ride him Maria!!!

[maria]

Izzy, you should come down sometime

Anyway, today Connor was a superstar! I was a little late for my lesson, so Sue had allready tacked him up and all that for me ;D hehe! I finished iit off, and then brought him into th outdoor. The ground was PERFECT!!! It was nice and moist, perfect for cantering on Anyway, we started our warm up, and we were working on me sitting tall and back, and keeping his pace the same throughout the w/t/and canter. We warmed up with w and some trot, and then i showed off to Sue's parents by cantering around. We then worked on a sensibel trot in and out of our canter, and laso for me to sit back when I ask him to canter. I have a tendancy to do everything right...up untill the last second where I throw it all away as we begin to canter.

However today was going really well! We did some nice trot canter transitions, and I learned a lot I even managed to sit back, and ride him 'back to front' in the canter!

I think the last thing was one of the best though. When we were cooling out, Sue put me in the right position, and i practiced staying there while he was walking. I had my reins down to the buckle, and just because I was using my seat, he had his head tucked down IN A FRAME. I was amazed, not to metion very proud

It was like, at that moment everything clicked!

[sl]

it was a good ride Maria...althouhg I think my fav part was when my folks came down and you were cantering and had to stop becasue my mother was having a heart attack at the speed you were going...lol gotta love nervous parents

[Becca]

hahah sue.. my parents stopped watching me ride when i started jumping over 3 foot. mom has a tendancy of grasping at breath.. so unless shes farr out of the away of the arena where i can't hear her then she can't watch she's horrid for getting nerves up that way.. unlike dad who thinks its a hockey game and cheers on everything..