What a wonderful night in the neighborhood....

No pictures tonite because I was focused on getting Tripp thru the yard to the trailer without slipping and falling in the mud. And darn it! This would have been a good night for pictures! Oh well....

Last weekend Tripp and I went trail riding and I met two new friends (mentioned on previous post). I was telling them all about the Makeover, and the more we rode the more impressed they were with Tripp for the amount of time he has been under saddle. Tripp even spooked at a large horse eating log, jumped in the air (not very high) and landed in the same spot, looked and snorted at it. Then he walked away. They thought that was pretty cool too. And I admit, I think it is pretty keen! :-) Much easier than a runaway spook! Dona offered to have me come over to her place so she could work with me on a couple of things for the competition - there were some things she noticed that she thought she could help me with, and she really wants us to do well. Tonite was the night...

First let me say that I don't like it getting dark earlier...now that I have that out of my system I will share what a great time I had!

I can say that I have had my first riding lesson - EVER! Woo hoo! She says I do alright, but my body needs some shifting around to be centered correctly. I am much tighter on one side than the other, so I need to be doing stretches, etc. (which I should be doing anyways) Hand position is also a little sloppy.
We also worked on Tripp's flexing, and me just doing what needs to be done to get him to go somewhere - I have to quit responding to things he is looking at.....and we did more but I just have to tell you this! Guess what we did??? GUESS!!!! We side passed! Oh my gosh, it felt so awesome! I think I only got a couple of really good ones done, but the others were fair, and some were....well, they just weren't. :-) But I have the general idea, and if I can put it all together and practice what I was taught tonite, I should be able to do this in no time at all! I have also learned that the term 'no time at all' can mean 1 day, 1 week, or even 1 month or more. Either way, I am very excited about this!

I worked around some cones to help with the side-pass, and it also helped me start preparing him for lead changes when I started figure 8's. Okay, I was told to do a figure 8 - so I was doing an 8. What I needed to be doing was a double horse-shoe figure 8 shape....oooohhhhhh - finally got it! And it was much easier! Doing this tonite makes me not so scared about trying to teach lead changes to him, because if I do what I am supposed to at the walk and trot, the canter will follow suit. I am going to practice it, but I am still not going to stress over it for the competition. If it works out, great, if not, great too.

At the trot, if it is smooth enough, I don't post. I am not a good poster so I avoid it. Well, tonite I learned that I wasn't doing it right! No wonder I wasn't good at it...I was making it harder than what it should be. So posting is also on the agenda to practice. Along with diagonals. I don't know why, but this is a hard one for me to grasp. But I will get it....

Oh my gosh, we spent a couple of hours going over some basic stuff, and my brain is on overload! She had one of her horses saddled up and she rode too - some examples were easier to follow with her in the saddle. She has a foxtrotter and her name is Sassy. Sassy might be sassy at times, but she was a gem tonite! To watch Dona and Sassy ride, I was thinking of dancing. They move like a team, and I want that kind of responsiveness and smoothness with Tripp.

Since we got a bunch more rain and it is muddier than heck again, Sharon from The Horse Farm offered me the use of her indoor arena, so I will be going over there tomorrow to practice a while. Then this weekend I will call Dona to see if our schedules match up. We want to work in more daylight if we can. Plus Brian has not seen her Haflinger, Magic, yet. It was too dark tonite by the time we got done.

So there you have it....and it really is a short version of all the information I have floating around in my head. Dona told me that for not having any instruction, I do pretty good. Whew! She is also pleased with Tripp's progress for the short amount of time we have been together. I think she is just as excited about the EMM as we are now! :-)

I do have one other 'Stupid Karen Trick' story to share. Last night it was very cool outside, so I was opening windows and doors. The back door has a double screen that I have to fight with because it falls off the track. I was tackling them and saw something out of the corner of my eye move - there was a big wasps nest in the corner of the doorway! Those big reddish brownish ones that are mean! I get the wasp spray and spray the nest, close the door and go out to feed the critters. When I come back there are still some moving around, and a couple are really mad! You know how they stay in one spot and move those wings so fast you can't see them? They were doing that - I was a target!
I get the wasp spray again, and peek around the corner of the door jam carefully, then I spray at the nest again. I was concentrating so much on not getting my face attacked by them, I had the can of spray too close to the door jam, and it hit that and ricocheted right into my face! HOLY CRAP! That stuff burns! It could have been a lot worse tho.....but still. Lesson for the day - don't do that!

Okay, signing off now.
Until later....Karen and Tripp (who side-passed!) :-)