2 Years?!

This week marked 2 years for me at my current barn.  I never made blogging about it a priority, but no time like the present!

I track my exercise with Endomondo, and along the way I did write a few little blurbs about how my rides went.

The first ride was on a large chestnut pony (possibly a Welara?) named Marvin who was quite the spitfire for being 25 years old.  I was too excited to remember to write anything, apparently.

Picture from May 2015

After riding him for about a month, I switched to a smallish flashy gelding named Tyson, who is my current mount.

He is a cookie fiend.

By April, I was cantering again.  It has always been kind of a scary thing for me, except in high school at the very end.  Riding 4 days a week for 2 years cured it though.  One day I was doing a bareback ride in the outdoor arena, and as I was counting strides along the diagonal, I realized there were four hoofbeats!  And I felt no fear at all, only happiness to be galloping bareback.  It was only that one perfect day though.  I left the barn at the end of that summer to get serious about college.

 On April 12th I sat my first spook at the barn.  And it was on Janey, the cuddlebug Irish Draught mare! Fortunately, I didn't let it shake my confidence the next week, and I had one of the best lessons of my life.  We leg-yielded a line of cones, did rollbacks to a line of cavaletti, mixed up posting/sitting/2point, and generally had a great time.

Sorry for the potato quality!

The only mishap was that I locked my knees when I dismounted, and I heard a nasty cracking noise from the tendons in my right knee.  I R.I.C.E.d it as much as I could, but it still took about a year to feel recovered.

Through June I rode Janey more and more and our bond grew.  It is a bit odd to have a lesson horse as one of my heart horses, but ownership is not in the cards for me right now so I'm happy with what I have.  She did have her crabby moments of trying to bite and kick other horses, but I got better at managing her and keeping our distance.  I also moved away from my parents' house for the first time since living in a dorm my junior year.  My three guinea pigs came with me.

In July we started to jump small courses of 3 crossrails.  This was exciting since it meant my jumping was progressing farther than it ever had in high school!  I focused on dressage back then. The only bad lesson was when she started to get obsessed with the colt that had been born to one of the boarder's mares.  He was turned out in the pasture that shared a fence with the far arena and all she would do was spin to look at him as we went down the long side.

My mother-in-law gave me an older male kitty.

How did I ever think orange cats were ugly?

August meant the worst flies, which slowed my progress a bit.  My fiance came to see me ride, which was wonderful.  He has long term dreams of doing endurance riding, but for now he is just a cookie dispenser and photographer.

In September, my instructor decided I should try one of the advanced horses, a humongous liver chestnut Appaloosa.  It was pretty rough, she was one of those horses who takes advantage of nervous riders, but by the end I felt like I had accomplished something.

October meant it cooled down a bit, although Chicago was really hanging on to summer.  I rode Marvin some more, his canter was the dreamiest, softest thing I had sat on in my life.  I am really becoming a fan of ponies and small horses.

I rode Jane for November, but I didn't write much.

December meant the indoor was packed with riders who were home for the holidays, but all went swimmingly.

In January apparently I jumped a 3 stride combination? I don't remember this at all though, and I did not write what horse I rode.  It was probably Tyson.

I also got my 4th guinea pig, now my little herd was completed.

My birthday present was to have Jane, the arena all to myself, and the world's tiniest oxer.

My love <3

I think Breyer horses have bigger jumps than this.

March was more of the same, I didn't write much except that I thought I jumped 2'3".  Since measuring the jumps, I don't think it was more than 2' though, they look much bigger on horseback.

April brought the unpleasant combination of mud and temperatures that were warm enough that the horses were no longer blanketed.  I sometimes call Janey The Mudpig since she is one of those horses that rolls in actual, real MUD and not just a quick lie down in the dirt to scratch their back.

I jumped Tyson a lot in May.  I was not riding Janey so much anymore, because for some reason she only cross-canters.  It was holding my riding back to not be able to learn to sit the canter and be able to jump smoother courses.

He may not be a cuddler but he knows his job.

In June I was set back by terrible heartburn that I developed from stressing about other parts of my life.  I didn't ride for weeks because I could barely eat.  The heat in July did not help either.  I began a program of heat conditioning by not using the air conditioning until it was unsafe for the guinea pigs.

In August, things got better.  I was eating more, and the heat conditioning was working!  I had some lovely rides on Tyson, and jumped 2' for the first time, although I was nervous about it.

Throw your heart over and the horse will follow.
Right?

In September, I started getting my hayfever and barometric pressure migraines.  I only rode once, but it was a pretty good jumping day on Janey despite sloppy conditions outdoors. 

In October I was brave enough to ask to ride bareback.  I've always been refused in the past at other lesson barns, but happily my instructor said yes!  There is nothing like a bareback draft horse.  Janey was like a moving sofa, and her trot was actually more comfortable than her walk.

Sadly, my migraines continued to get nastier and nastier, so I took off all of November and December.

In January, I was back on Tyson, and we're trying to remember how this whole partnership thing goes.  Next week we should be outside.  I think I might ask to ride Janey since my wedding is next weekend and having my cuddlebug back would be a nice little present.

She may hate all other horses, but she loves me!
*squee*