It is cold, it is snowy, and it is busy here in West Virginia! We currently have a total of 35 horses at the farm and things are staying very busy, I thought winter was for rest and recovery. Rest, who needs it!? When it is busy you know you are learning a lot, jumping horses on a daily basis and riding anywhere from seven to ten horses per day will give you some muscle density! I am trying to keep a running tab of all the great courses we do here, we usually change the jumps about once each week, once again great for all that muscle density, not so great for that back of mine! I find it very interesting to watch each exercise and see how it effects the horses; strengthening their hind ends or their focus, both valuable and something I hope to able to pass on when I move on from here.
Two weeks ago three of us headed just north of Baltimore, MD to the World Horse Expo. It was an interesting experience! There was a good amount of western gear and people, culture shock! We were lucky enough to be asked to be Jimmy Wofford's demo riders for the two demonstrations he was giving at the expo (this made even more fun by the fact he is applying to be the new U.S. team coach!). I was riding Sharon's lovely homebred mare Bounce; talk about pressure, try riding your coach's favorite horse that they have incredibly high hopes for! Bounce found the whole thing rather fun, a hundred or more people to watch her jump around in a ring the size of the trailer she rode in on! The ring so small it was literally like being trapped, it only took about 10 strides to get from one end to the other, you try jumping in that! It was fun to do, great for the horses to be exposed to that atmosphere at such a young age, and it fun to do something different for a couple days. The theme of the demo for me was to keep my body still......I think that might just be the theme for the rest of my life, lets face it.
The next week Jimmy came to Sharon's farm and I was lucky enough to get two more lessons. I received another lesson on Miss Bounce (also known as Katy Perry), we jumped with two advanced horses so the needless to say I felt a bit too much pressure and we didn't have the best school we ever had, but hey it's nice not to be perfect all the time right? :). Still it was a good learning curve, dealing with a nervous horse and trying to keep my head still.....or as Jimmy says, "your head is attached to an elaborate system to wires, right?". My second lesson was on one of my favorite horses ever, Shoe. He is a lovely Dutch warmblood that I also had my Linda Zang lesson on. He is an incredibly nervous horse, and reminds quite a bit of Clif, just a bit more dramatic at his young age! He jumped quite well and really learned throughout the whole lesson which was fun to ride.
Last, but not least Gerd Reuter was here Wednesday to give us all some dressage guidance! He is so nice, but that though German accent will intimidate you! I had a lesson on Dolly, the mare I took novice last fall, and will hopefully continue to ride this spring! She was very good and Gerd seemed quite pleased with how far she has come in last two months since he last saw her. She is much, much stronger and more able to carry herself and use her hind end. Gerd has a real focus on making them deep and flexible, which I love and have been using all the horses since my lesson! Lots of learning!
Irish is doing well! She's great as usual, I really can't say anything bad about this little horse. She has the most fantastic attitude about absolutely everything, and she loves her cookies! She has done a few real dressage rides and is always learning and trying harder. She's the kind of horse I would love to keep if I could. I am hoping to find her a great home in the near future, of course ideally I would love for something to buy her and want me to keep riding her......but the reality is that problem won't happen, but maybe one day!
It's almost spring, it's almost spring, it's almost spring! (Just keep saying that to yourself!)
Hillary
