Catch ride

So a longtime friend contacted me to ride one of her horses in a dressage show last weekend.  She was the secretary so couldn't compete.  I rode the horse for the first time on a Tuesday.  Then on thursday I took her usual lesson with her trainer (wife of my long term trainer/second dad) who I have taken sporadic lessons from in the past.  The lesson went great and the owner and trainer were really pleased, even saying that I was making the mare look better than ever.  Blondie is a sport horse Appaloosa.  Then Sunday I rode First level 2 and 3.  Warm up was amazing and in three quarters of the show ring she was amazing, but she decided that the judges booth was the gate to hades.  Needless to say the scores were not great, but the owner was still very happy and we chocked it up to young horse learning experience.  Worry not, Alyssa came and took amazing shots!  I really am way too spoiled in the picture department.

Thank goodness we are cantering away from the judge's booth/box of doom

It was 95 and humid (rained all night)

Sneaking some pink

Favorite shot from the show

Pretty girl

I guess her neck was fascinating 

So much fun, I actually love showing

Love the red lining on my coat

Wish I could have had the same relaxation in the ring as the warmup!

Can't wait for a dressup show with my horses!

Foggy but smiling

Saturday afternoon was still foggy, but the sprinklerbandit and I ventured out for horse riding adventures.  Hugging a horse is good for the soul.

I love this guy so much

We took turns taking pictures of each other, I always get a laugh that the pictures I take are on her blog and the pictures she takes are on my blog.  Speaking of pictures she took, check out how cool the 100 acres looked:

Sunshine and fog battle it out

If there wasn't a house between those two hills I would totally ride off into the mist

Mist sounds so much more romantic than fog.
So while needing some laughs the last few days I've been overdosing on YouTube Jimmy Kimmel videos, the funny thing is I managed to glean a great quote!

"Its not the time in your life, its the life in your time" ~Bruce Springsteen.

How awesome is that?

So at the end of last week Mojito got worked on by the chiropractor.  Finally.  The session lasted over an hour, and by the end Mojito was moving like a new horse.  Between the teeth last fall and the body work now he is finally ready to be ridden.  And ride him I did.  I tried my Pessoa on him, and it didn't fit in the least.  So I tried my Stubben next and it actually fit great, woohoo!  I stuck on his bridle and off we went.  It was amazing, he walked forward with his head down with no balking.  A few times he would tense, sort of like a horse would pre-spook, but I think it was just his way of assessing how he felt.  It would last for a second and then he would relax and drop his head further while stretching out his walk stride.

Pets

More pets

Sleeping on the job

Quiet moment

 Seriously this horse is amazing, it was below freezing and he hasn't been ridden in months and I didn't lunge or anything and we just walked around on a soft rein like we do it everyday!

Lets pretend he is bigger than 15.2 for my leg to still not come any lower

I can't wait to see what he can do!

So like I said, foggy...

and smiling