I've gotten to the point where I hardly keep track of the days anymore; weekends are only significant in the sense that I know I will probably have to get up at or before 4 am to help for shows, but otherwise relatively uneventful. My body seems to be adjusting well to the daily workload and I'm not nearly as physically or mentally drained anymore by the time I get home which is fantastic. Went in to the barn (after a lazy morning) to watch one of Jimmy's lessons which is always so helpful, even if I'm not riding (which I have yet to do since arriving, not really holding my breath because someone has to help around the barn while everyone's riding!) and I always learn so much watching other people ride. Tim has been helping me a lot from day to day on my rides, most of which are on Leo whom I absolutely adore and is so good to me. He's one of those great been-there, done-that horses who teaches you so much about your riding, which I need because that's the only way I can eventually help with other horses. Had a fun flat lesson with Tim where we did lots of lateral work and ended on some pretty decent half-passes, if I do say so myself! I've never really done a half pass at a trot, let alone a canter, but Tim sent me up the 3/4 line and said half-pass over to the center line. I told him I didn't quite know how to do that when he responded, "Well, you are, so just keep doing it."
I've also been getting on quite a few different horses than when I got here, and I love the variety because they're obviously all different and I can't just ride one like I would the other. I had such a good no stirrups jumping lesson with Sharon the other day on Leo; we spent about a half hour just warming up with lots of transitions and leg yielding into the circle to straighten them out and then send them forward- something I never really would have thought of but that's why I'm here! Then she set up two poles 24 feet apart on the ground and we had to fit two strides in at first (pretty standard at the canter) then three strides (harder than I expected even with Leo who can get this superb collected canter) and then one stride in between, all making us adjust our riding so the horse adjusts accordingly. We jumped a small course after but I think the first half of the lesson was my favorite, it helped my seat and position so much.
Around the barn, I (almost) have the routine down, to the point where I don't have to be told 1000 times to do something before I actually do it. Kay decided my nickname is Space Cadet because she thinks I have this spacey look on my face whenever she talks to me. Virginia HT are this weekend, followed by Rubicon where we end the season, then I get to go home for a few days!! I am beyond excited to be home with the fam, ride my Oopsie and hopefully Al and Newton as well, and fingers-crossed catch up with some friends. Luckily for me, my aunt and uncle live about a half hour away right now, which means on my day off every week I trek over there in Old Gold and spend the evening with them. I look forward to it every week, and it's so nice to have familiar faces so close, because without them I really don't know anyone besides barn people.
When I visited the barn in late August, I met Marley and Tim, and Marley was wearing these pink Tailored Sportsman riding pants that I will never forget. I thought they were kind of weird at first but I couldn't stop thinking about them and started looking everywhere for them but with no luck. WELL, I confessed my attraction to them to Marley last week and she told me where she got them, so I found them online and THEY WERE ON SALE, I could hardly believe it. So obviously I ordered them and they are so so great I can't wait to wear them to the barn tomorrow.
Since I'm just rambling now I'm going to get off this and look for some new music, something I use to do all the time but haven't had much time for lately. And I'm going to try to update this a little more often!
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