Stop

jill believed that you are ALWAYS training a horse.

so, she was surprised when he called her on letting him stop.
"when?" she wanted to know, because there were many times when she knew he was about to stop, and so told him to stop, thinking this was at least a constructive alternative to spinning. She said "I considered standing our ground an improvement from the turning and running away!"

*
"don't worry dad, " she'd said earlier. kissing his cheek and departing the hospital, "i always remember that the #1 rule is DON'T fall off. but, failing that, i always tell someone where i'll be going and when i'll be back, so if anything goes wrong, people will know."

thinking she was going to make a sign of emergency contact numbers for the stall door.

Olden Days

I was recruited for pony club when Meadowvale didn't have enough riders for next year's C rally. I guess my coach, who taught them suggested me? anyway, I took the max allowable tests, the D D1 & D2 in the fall, and then in the spring I took the C C1 & C2. And then me and my lovely horse actually got to be stabled at Mohawk Raceway. And we did our first real cross country course. And, it was great to compete as a team, with other horse and rider combos.

Shortly thereafter I hit the age limit to get kicked out of Pony Club.

(I always liked the Quiz too. Our team went pretty far.)
*
When I called up that coach, in the hopes she could help me track down those Pony Club records (to avoid the rider level testing for instructor certification) she said "You should just come and teach for me, I don't care if you're certified."

And so it was that I came to part board the nicest horse in her school of them that summer, in exchange for teaching to start in the fall.

Bad Day

she thought it was pretty romantic the way the two of them just hopped on the horse bareback together.

"it's okay, i know what you're going thru" he said, as jill took one of the first temper tantrums she had ever had-on-a-horse in whole life. the beast had tried to mow her over and drag her back to the barn but she had run with him and managed eventually to stop him with her whole body weight, verbal commands and huge yanks on the lungeline attached to his bit.

she'd tried to call it a day (training wise) when she successfully got the brute back and forth to the round pen where they'd been headed in the first place, twice, with out getting dragged around and stood stock still against her will with or kicked or bit or whatEVER.

the boss's boyfriend wouldn't let it go at that however...

she started wearing her helmet around that horse after that.

and they made fun of her.

months and months later she found out the last 5 groom/working students HAD been dragged to the barn by him and refused to have anything to do with him afterwards.

Moments on Mars

"it's funny how the sheep and giant, furry lama flocking to the fence didn't freak him at all, but he almost ditched me spooking at a tree branch lying on the edge of the field" Jill said, returning from the give-the-talented-school-pony-a-change-of-scenery-ride. "He took off on me once too, so that's good right?" she added, to the surprise of the working students. "Afterall, the idea is to get him going forward!"
*
the next day, it took several minutes to get past the parked horse trailer. and, in general, he was much spookier than the day before... when jill got back to the barn she survey everyone
is it possible that the scent of nearby lambs and lamas were actually comforting him the day before???

Farah-my-favourite

"we'll make room for you" jill said, cantering past the entrance to the sandring and then changing the location of her small circle in front of her teacher. a longstanding student and boarder was standing there waiting to enter.

"don't worry, i'm watching and learning" replied the next rider, to jill's delight. they were leg yeilding around the top part of the circle at a walk and then striking off into canter for the rest of the figure and then making another transition back to walk within the 15meters, in order to leg yeild some more. it was an interesting and effective exercise she'd never tried before and was a result of her request to the teacher to give the school horse a "tune up" since she'd been ignoring the leg of the students in classed jill'd been teaching that week. jill enjoyed the ride and was also proud when the teacher said as she was leaving how well she'd ridden.

maybe she wasn't as rusty as she thought. and, her pony friend had such a good work ethic too!

they began and ended their ride playing tag with the fearless 4 year old, including opening and closing gates and barriers into the arena. the horse was so brave, agile, responsive AND sensible, the games were just great!!

**
the other day i had a private lesson on farah. we worked on forward (even though she's a speedster) around and around the sandring in every gait for nearly a half hour; then we jumped a couple poles in a really rhythmical and relaxed way.the next time we went out, it was a practice ride after the b-day party.

since the hay in the big, back field had just been cut, we had a little handgallop along one side, trotting the rest in each direction. then we trotted around the manure pile field treeline, and trotted around the shed paddock twice.

then when we joined the group lesson yesterday SHE WAS TOTALLY AWESOME. so soft and quiet and collecting!

5.7 pg 41 Dressage in Harmony
The Good Ride Danger
When you have a good ride one day, it is wonderful, but it also very dangerous. On the next day, as soon as you mount, you tell yourself, "I hope it will be as good as yesterday..." And the rider expects the same performance of the horse immediately. If the rider tries to get the feeling he had yesterday right away, then he will start to get tight. I cannot expect to start my search for a butterfly with him already in the net! I have to wait for him." etc etc.