Connor

[happilyeverafter]

Just wanted to say (late as it is) congrats on your scores at the dressage show - hopefully we'll be seeing you out participating in the NADA events this summer!

[Becca]

OT: now thats shannyns gone, whos president of NADA?

[shazam]

Connor seems to be getting along with my two perfectly! Your right, he seems to like the goat and Spud has taken a liking to him as well!

[blangshep]

shazam

Spud is the cutest thing ever! While Maria was riding Connor, he stood in the middle of the ring and watched the whole time!

Your pony is also very adorable:)

[maria]

Jun 18, 2008 22:47:26 GMT -3 happilyeverafter said:

Just wanted to say (late as it is) congrats on your scores at the dressage show - hopefully we'll be seeing you out participating in the NADA events this summer!

Thanks a bunch!! I know a few more little tricks now, so hopefully we'll be even better in our next dressage show I'm really hoping to show this summer, if there's anything around

And yeah, Spud was just standing in the middle of the ring, hanging out while I was riding, lol! He and Zam are getting along great, I'm so happy!

[maria]

OMG!!!!! I went on a hack yesterday On a REAL trail ;D LOL!!!! haha, it was my first time riding out of the ring with Connor. Sue gave me a lesson, and Nicole and Zam were riding with me to (Connor and Zam are feild buddies, so they were best kind together). Then after my lesson, Sue sent me off with Nicole to go on one of King's BEUTIFULL trails.

Connor didn't put a step wrong, he was even leading almost the entire trail!! His ears were perked up, and he looked the happiest I've seen him in a while The funniest though, was when we turned around, I could feel his step get slower, as if he didn't want to turn round. Sue, Lacey, and Julia were walking behind us, and got a few pictures which I'll put up later.

I think I'm turning into a trail person, lol!

[Lacey]

Yay I was there

[blangshep]

Yay I was there earlier.....building a fence for Connor.........Im glad he was so good for you on the hack Maria....he is sooo happy there!

[maria]

Yeah, he is He really loved his 24 hour turn out, I think that was the only thing that kept him sane today when I rode, haha. It was the first time he had really been worked, and it was my first time riding since I came back from my vacation!!!

He was awesome today, we warmed up with walk halt transitions, and then basically worked on dressage stuff, as I'm planning on entering in the next show. I just sort of made up my own pattern as we went along ;D We also worked on a bit of leg yielding, and that went ok. Then, near the end Nicole and Sue started setting up a little cross rail, and we jumped that a couple times

And of course, to end off, Sue (my dear trainer) had to remind me that I was home now and it was time to work my butt off, so we did some of the canter/sitting up/lots of leg/using his hind end work. Although it was REALLY hard on poor little me (who had only ridden a couple times while I was away, lol!) It felt really good when I got it right, and I can NOT wait till the dressage show!!!!!

[maria]

I rode dressage again (surprise surprise!). I'm really getting into it now, I guess I'm maturing from "crazy pony jumper girl" ;D lol!

Warmed up again with voltés in the corner's, first on a long rein, then bending and just working on getting him to loosen his jaw. Jason, Nicole, and a few other people were working on the fence, but I'm proud to say Connor didn't even look twice at them, and just focused on his job. We worked through certain spots in our dressage test that were giving us trouble the other day, and just broke it down bit by bit. It seemed to work really well!! He was getting the free walk, medium walk, trot, and canter, all in the space of about 15 meter's a lot better then before, so I was happy about that!

After we did that, my dad read out my tests and I did all 4. He actually did pretty well, for not knowing where any letters are, or when to say them, and all that Except for our halt, everything else went pretty smoothly. His free walk is probably his best trait, and I got a really good trot out of him

[shazam]

Glad to hear you had a good ride after, even with the chaos involved with that damn fence!!!!

He was looking good Maria and your 'victory lap' was pretty cute

[maria]

OH!!! I can't believe I forgot to add that! Thanks Nicole!

Afterwords, we had a nice energetic canter around the whole arena, I alternated between 2-point, and then done one of the long sides, I sat deep and really drove him forward, it was probably one of the best things I ever did with him!!! It was awesome to feel the power, it's not something you can describe.

[SoLaNgE(L)]

i know me and Whisper are guilty for a doing that sumtimes

[maria]

I had a lesson with Sue today (one of my first in a while!)!!! Due to school, Sue and I being sick, and Connor not being himself, I haven't ridden a whole lot this past week or two, or at least not to hard

But today went REALLY well! Nicole was nice enough to let me borrow her saddle so I could jump and we started off walking and trotting over first two, then 3, and then 4 poles on a 20 m circle, and going right in the center of them. Then Sue put a standard on first two, then three of them, so they were half off the ground (like 1/2 a x-rail) and we still had to go in the center. It made me adjust his stride, and also practicing turning and stuff like that!

After we had got that down, we moved down to the other end of the ring to let Nicole and Zam play with them, and we cantered around. Then we went back down to where the poles and everything was, and Sue put up a jump at the top of the circle, although we still had to go in the center of the other poles as well.

In the end we had a X-rail and a vertical on a 20 m circle that we cantered around and jumped I was SOOOOOOO happy with him today, he didn't even think twice about refusing even though it was hard for him on the circle, and I was very proud of my boy

[maria]

I had my first real bareback lesson today! I've cooled out Connor bareback before, and did a bit of trot, but today was the first lesson I had. It was VERY beneficial, and I learned a surprising amount from just the walk. I was able to feel much more clearly where his back was going, and the aids I was giving, whether deliberate or not! We also worked on sitting up tall in the trot, and all that stuff. It went very well, and I was pleased with how much we accomplished.

After that I went down with Sue to help out Harry with Barban and May, and then I went home and got ready to go down with Heather to ride Misty and Shelby!

I'll give a quick update on how the girls are doing ;D They were both very cuddly to groom and tack up, I hopped on Misty, after watching Heather ride her around, and worked on bending, flexing, and going forward. Then, while I was riding around, she went to get Shelby, and rode her round. We switched after a little while, and I fell in love with her dressage saddle ;D The seat is a lot smaller then Connor's, and very deep, so I felt like I could do anything in it, and look perfect, LOL! It ended up being really good for sitting trot, which I did on Shelby just getting used to her and all that. We ended off with me and Heather going on a hack, (and me wanting to go swimming with Shelby in the pond, however I decided that we both may turn into Popsicles if we did that, so we'll just have to wait ) But I had a lot of fun with both horses!