Weekend

Saturday I rode Oslo's and Skippy's Freestyle since the barn was empty and I had the big arena to myself for the day! Skippy's Freestyle seems to have really good timing and it was good for me to practice the canter tour again since the half-pass to pirouette and vice versa routine is quite challenging for us. Oslo's Freestyle needs some adjusting though. At the Del Mar show I got slightly ahead in the canter tour and had to do a pirouette right in the corner and it made things messy. Practicing it again on Saturday confirmed there is just a few too many seconds of canter in the pirouette section. Therefore, we talked to Karen Robinson (the Freestyle master!) and she is going to take out 4 seconds and send it back to us asap. Hopefully that will make it a bit nicer to ride!

I also rode Cashew on Saturday and she has progressed again sooo much! I cannot get over how much she has learned in the last 3 days. She was so forward today and much more supple in the higher frame. GOOD GIRL Cashew!!! Her trot is also starting to get bigger and I am finally getting comfortable with her extravagant canter! We are really starting to get used to each other. It feels good to be working on a girl's team again! No offence to Oslo or Skippy. Geldings have their benefits too!

Sunday was a rest day for everyone and then we will have four lessons with Lientje this week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Oslo and I are also hoping to fit in a lesson with Steffen at some point too. In addition, Skippy has been signed up for a long-lining lesson with Shannon and Lientje. Now that Skippy is doing so well and really starting to understand things, Lientje thinks an in hand lesson will be very good for him. I am excited to see how that goes. I have heard that Shannon is amazing at working the horses in hand, so I am sure it will be a very educational experience for Skippy and me!

We have been using the shaker on Oslo almost every morning and he seems to find it quite relaxing. At first he was a bit suspicious, as was I, but I think we are all in agreement that it makes you feel good afterwards! It is a nice set-up since they have an entire stall with the floor being the shaker/vibrator. It allows Oslo to eat hay and walk around while mom or I are standing in there as well! We all get the vibrating treatment for 15 minutes. When I ride Oslo fairly soon after the shaker, he seems quite loose and supple as well. Too bad it wasn't portable and could be taken to shows!

After we took the horses for a long walk this morning we headed to lake/reservoir in the middle of Rancho Sante Fe and went hiking around the lake. It is a beautiful place - a peaceful, quiet lake in the middle of the city. Walking around the lake and rolling hills you would have never known you were in San Diego!

Congrats to everyone who rode in the Young Rider show and received qualifying scores for NAJYRC and to everyone who had good rides!

Back to work tomorrow with 3 lessons with Lientje, all in the morning!

Hugs to all our friends back home!


Linds