Pam was attending to one of the horses who was not feeling well, So Charlene came along and gave me my lesson

Man oh man can you say Drill sergeant? We did loads and loads of trot work, from 10m circles, to Loops through X, 3 loop serpentine’s, 4 loop serpentine’s and you name it, then not to forget turns on the forehand. Charlene had me really working hard and getting Lily to move forward with my seat, not nagging her with my leg (it’s a HORRIBLE habit I have picked up) and I think we were getting it nicely eventually. But I must say Lily had me working hard as I did not have my crop, and she takes FULL advantage of that. But I was really impressed with how she performed

The canter work was really nice as well, especially on our bad rein (left rein), the transition was phenominal I could really feel her arch her back and spring me into the canter She really has one of the most comfortable canters, it’s like a couch that moves

After that we did some frame work and Filly is really getting it, I think once my leg relaxes and I break the aids down more she will find it a lot easier But she was softening beautifully in the walk and even gave us quite a few steps in the trot Very impressed

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to Charlene for teaching the lesson, it was really fun :) I was exhausted though when I got off, and Lily was sweating for a change! Looking forward to the rides the rest of the week

Happy riding everyone!

HEEE HAAA!

WOW what a lesson we had! I really got more in the lesson that I had anticipated and it was HARD work!

The lesson started with Pam going “Feet out the stirrups”… Now I have no problem doing that hehe But then came words that knocked me for a six… “Trot on rising trot”, I actually looked at Pam with astonishment lol… But sucked it up and did it I think I really got it nicely

Then I got my stirrups back ^_^ but had to concentrate on keeping my legs the same as it were without stirrups. I tell you that was quite a mission, but I got it right eventually   We then moved onto cantering and had to apply the same principal. On the left rein a struggled to get Lily to canter, but got it right after a few tries Then came the right rein and we did splendidly there She is really coming along nicely in her canter, I think I just need to be more assertive.

After that we worked on her frame a bit and really start to establish our communication with each other. Pam had me feel what was working and what was not and I think I got the idea of what Lily wanted in order to go soft. Her walk frame is really absolutely divine and she does it SO nicely Once we had her soft in the walk, we had to keep the transition to trot smooth, so had to choose my moments carefully. We got some divine transitions up and then came the asking for the frame Lily was doing it fantastically! She was really starting to keep the frame consistently towards the end as well as in the downward transition.

After that Pam had us do the trotting poles which she did BEAUTIFULLY, she really lifted and moved over them nicely Then Pam had us come on a left rein and pop over the small Cross and whilst we were preparing for it Clever Lily just dropped into a frame and maintained it for long and we popped over the small cross SO nicely Changed rein and did the same there and she did it nicely again SUCH a clever Filly!

I was SO impressed with her She really is doing well and aims to please, what a pleasure
Thanks to Pam for my awesome lesson!

So the show finally arrived and I was excited!
I think Lily was a bit over excited as well and it showed in the results in the show
BUT that being said, I thought it through and it was my own fault… I fed her a full Molassas block on Friday which she finished on Saturday… Molassas + Lily = Sugar Rush child! So all she was acting up from was her sugar rush!

But yeah, we did dismally and showed everyone how NOT to do dressage… A enter in flat out gallop was not in the test and nor was half pass around the arena… But we know she can do it now hahahaha!

The jumping went OK, BUT she lacks confidence in the trot and pretty much stopped at every fence, until we cantered and then things were easy to do!  We went clear, but I chickened out of the 40cm… her noseband was too low and I felt that had an impact on how she was going as well… I do not regret doing that in the least.

Here are some photos of Lily JUMPING… and MAN does she have a jump on her! Excuse my eyes lol…

Tuesday we were back in action, had fixed the noseband and had my lesson with Pam. Lily was back to normal and worked really nicely and made me really happy. I must tell you, I was relieved she was back to normal and not loopy like she was on Sunday!

Thursday Pam drilled Lily and I in our lesson, but it was awsesome. We are waiting for miss filly to have her click moment now, and I am waiting as patiently as I can lol… It really is hard work, but worth every second of it!

A HUUUUUUUGE thank you to Pam for organizing the show and for my awesome Lessons and thanks to the people who were there to support and to Johan and Selwyn for running the tuck shop and keeping us ‘satisfied’

On Sunday the 7th of October I had a lesson with Emma and it was great…
We started in the sand arena with a nice trot and then tried for a canter and he did it easily… I think it was the first time he did not want to stop trotting…   he went all faster and faster.

Then we decided we are going to go to the grass to go jump… so he calmed down. So after we jumped the course from the show… Emma told me that or I must do the course over again or I must try to do my first Canter into a jump ( about 40cm) … So we did and it was AWESOME !!!! We also did a combination jump and in between he also cantered…

So I cantered: 2 and a half circles in the sand…
Jumped over a jump cantering for the first time
and cantered between a combination jump…..

It was AWESOME and now my legs are very stif….

So thank you Emma and Billy!!

Boots was all energy today, I think the warm weather is agreeing with her.

So she was super hyped about running ful speed at every trotting pole and flying over them!

I was during this trying to count her steps… did not work out so well.

Never the less Boots managed to get over everything and I managed to get 4 steps in before every jump, so it was all good.