# Through thick & thin.



## Hidalgo13 (Dec 24, 2010)

Aw, . Happy for you. Still waiting to get that bond.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

It comes with time...I took me what seemed like forever and sometimes I do not see it yet others do soooo maybe you don't see it but when other people see you and your horse they might 

I went to work at the stable. It went pretty well.I helped my trainer out in the garden,fed the horses,and cleaned. There is so much to do there and tomorrow I will be learning how to feed in the morning so I will be there early ...well what I consider early 9:30.

My husband and I headed out to the stable late.I worked with Stormy. She leads but she needs to work on keeping pace and not slow down. She will take a lot of patience and time.
I then tossed a lead rope around Gidget's neck and Brian(my husband) gave me a leg up as I royally suck at trying to mount bareback. She walked me up to the dirt lot and I was able to steer her with my legs which I was so proud of since she listened. I sat back some and told her to "hoa" and she stopped. I also asked for a trot and we trotted around which was pretty fun. I love summer nights.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

Yesterday I had a lesson with Dennis aka:Noodle Neck. He is a TB ex jumper who is now a lesson horse. Apparently my wrists are very stiff and I am over flexing him at the corners which makes him fall in and I lose my contact with the horse. It's a lot of hard work learning dressage but I really enjoy the group lessons with the campers.

I was hoping to bring Gidge to a group lesson today but that isn't going to happen as our trailer lights are having issues and needs worked on. Wouldn'tbe too safe without them! Maybe this weekend


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

I haven't been on here in so long it seems.

Today was a great day. I went to the pasture to saddle up Gidget to go jump. We are jumping 1 ft right now and we aren't going any higher untill we make sure she does it perfectly each time and so I can make sure I can work on my posistion as well! It was a lot of fun. I had my husband and mom there helping Gidget and I out. I am hoping my mom will teach one of her horses how to jump. That would be so much fun.
Tomorrow I am going to the stable to work. I am cleaing two pastures as Pony Club is coming over and they are using that area to camp out in,I think. Also tomorrow is some of the campers last day so they have a game day which includes riding the horses. This should be a lot of fun to watch. I'm going to miss some of the girls. They are all so very sweet and you can really tell where their heart is. They love riding. I wonder how many people are doing camp at the stable this yr.

hmmm..


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## ItzKayley (Jun 8, 2011)

Naw! He's adorable! 
You think he has meat? You should see my pony! 

The day we met. (This was 2 years ago and he is not dangerously over-weight anymore but still fat!)

















Looking back on thoose photos make me laugh!


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

ItzKayley said:


> Naw! He's adorable!
> You think he has meat? You should see my pony!
> 
> The day we met. (This was 2 years ago and he is not dangerously over-weight anymore but still fat!)
> ...


 
what a fat pony!


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

This morning I had my dressage lesson. I found out riding is so much work with a horse( Gidget) that likes to resist unless she wants to do something. I was posting like there was no tomorrow and by the time I was finished my legs were BURNING! I felt like I just ran a marathon! 
Gidget is short strided and my trainer is teaching me how to get her to really walk out and it's quite a bit of work as it's a small walk to jigging so we are trying to get her in the middle. While I'm doing that I am also trying to keep her on the rail of the arena since she likes to fall in and I end up losing contact on one rein >.< 

I'm stiff in my wrists and I look like a chicken trying to fly away I found out so I have to remember to keeps my hands apart,relaxed( I break at my wrists)and elbows down....I have a lot of homework to do. I asked if I could work on a schooling horse so I can work on my posisition without worrying about Gidget at the same time and we agreed that would be a good idea since Gidget is considered green after all...maybe my trainer meant green in dressage..not sure...guess I should ask.
Gidget is still going to be trained and a girl there is going to help me warm her up since she has been riding since she was 6 yrs old now is 16 so she has some years in the saddle. She rode Gidget nicely. She kept on having to kick with her leg(lightly) to keep her on the rail and Gidget looked like a giraffe but she made her go and walk out which was awesome....there is a very long road ahead...I'm looking forward to becoming a better rider but training Gidget is a whooooole different story....it might be hell.


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## Brighteyes (Mar 8, 2009)

Gidget sounds like a typical horse green to a new disipline. It'll get better!  Dressage sounds like a lot of fun... I really want to try it with Baby Girl one day.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

You think so?

It was very difficult yesterday. My trainer thinks this is very interesting and thinks she is such a brat,lol...she is one.

I just hope it gets better with her as it's very difficult. I have been practicing with my wrists and relaxing them at home today...I have lots of work to do but hopefully I can get better..I'm a total train wreck with Gidget and learning dressage with her..we are also learning jumping once we get Gidget trained enough to where I can do half seat with her.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

a school horse is a good idea, I think.
As for the hands, all of those things take time to become ingrained habits. No one I know got it overnight. Here's something to help:

Think of your hands as kind of holding the bit ring itself. To do so, they would have to be vertically aligned. AND thing of your thumb as being the "roof" on top of your closed and bent fingers. AND the roof POINTS directly toward the horse's bit, like laser sights out of your thumb toward it.

Get it, and KEEP it , as long as you can. Then REget it and so on . . . ..


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

tinyliny said:


> a school horse is a good idea, I think.
> As for the hands, all of those things take time to become ingrained habits. No one I know got it overnight. Here's something to help:
> 
> Think of your hands as kind of holding the bit ring itself. To do so, they would have to be vertically aligned. AND thing of your thumb as being the "roof" on top of your closed and bent fingers. AND the roof POINTS directly toward the horse's bit, like laser sights out of your thumb toward it.
> ...


 
thank you 

I will use the lesson horse as much as I can since she has camp all summer long most horses will be used so I will have to take Gidget. It's hard when you are learning at the same time your horse is and the fact that Gidget can be very rude at times.


Today was a great day. I spent the day with my family and rode Gidget and I practiced my half seat and worked on my hands. I have a feeling my hands are going to be my worse enemy for awhile as I have created habits ...good ol' habits. I practiced in the mirror today to see what my trainer sees and what she wants me to do..I'll admitt that I end up looking like a chicken trying to run away from a dog gone mad  I have faith that I will get better. This is defiently something I want to learn. I want to work together and not fight with my horse. I also worked on driving her to a "marching" walk today as I usually let her walk at her own pace.

My mom handed me a book tonight called "Centered Riding". I'm going to read it and see if it will help me.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

I now have my horse at the stable where I work. She is only there for 3 days so I can do some jumping lessons on her. 
Our first lesson was dressage. We were working on the sitting trot and posting trot.I really need to work on arms.I don't know why it's so hard for me but I think or atleast hope I am getting better. Posting is easy for me but I need to make sure I keep driving my horse forward since she isn't the most ambitious and to work on hands and keeping my elbows bent. 
Jumping lesson..NOW THAT WAS INTERESTING. I was in half seat and we were trotting around on the rail.I thought we did fairly well. When it came to the jump I stopped driving Gidget and just kinda went for the ride. I don't know why I stopped.We were trotting and I thought we were going to stop at the jump and I didn't want to stop all of the sudden and fly forward. We ended up jumping and it was at an angle I believe.It defiently wasn't straight. I fly up and on her neck and held on and landed on my feet infront of EVERYONE. I just started laughing.It was one of those moments that you become embarassed and you just start laughing over your mistakes. I did it again...I went in the air and landed down in the saddle....someone help me?...I'm not the best...especially today! I focus on a million things at once and I need to stop and focus on us....maybe we would have done better. Sooo anyways,no more jumping for Gidget and I. My trainer said it would be best to not jump her untill she was trained on how to properly jump and it would be best if I learned how to jump on a lesson horse..I agree. It was somewhat frusterating since I was hoping Gidget would behave better. 

Another day.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

Gidget and I are in a thin part of our training. Today we have a lesson. I hope that it will be better than yesterday's lesson. We shall see and I will update to let everyone know how it went.

I've been reading a book called "Centered Riding". It shows many illustrations which has really helped. I read some it last night and realized that my left side of my brain is in over drive compared to my right side of my brain.While learning how to ride the proper way I need to use my right side of my brain. I need do breathing exercises and use my "soft eyes" rather than my "hard eyes" and be tense. I will try this while at my lesson and see if it helps us both.


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

Okay,so today wasn't the best. I ended up being late to the first lesson because we had to wait at the gas station for 20 minutes while the employee took his time stuffing his face instead of helping customers. 

I cleaned Gidget's stall and turnout and then decided to go on a hack and explore while campers went in to eat their lunch. It was nice to have just us exploring and we hopped over some logs.Gidget's nerves were up. She was very alert and she did spook over some things but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. After about 10 minutes I put her back in her stall and went and cleaned the pastures.
In the afternoon we all tacked up again and headed to the outdoor arena to warm up. We had a course set up to see if we were already to go canter/gallop in the open field. Gidget was hard in the arena. It took a lot for me to get her to move out and I turned her in too sharp of a turn. Within just 4 minutes I was sweating. We then went on a hack again and Gidget and I lead the way to the field. We had groups and we were sent off at a trot..Gidget did well! She had her ears up and listened to me without being a brat. We then sat and watched the campers trot.Everyone was having so much fun  I loved it. We were all sent off to trot and I warned everyone that Gidget likes to race other horses and of course she started to and that was hard to get her to settle down as she was excited. I asked my trainer if Gidget and I could go canter in the pasture.My friend came with me and we cantered..Gidget wanted to keep going and I did too but I couldn't canter towards the group with everyone on horses. Our trainer said we did great at our teamwork.I asked her how my position was and she said I had it down! I was so HAPPY to hear that. I felt that today was a bit of a break through.I felt confident as my horse listened to me(atleast for the most part). I can't wait for tomorrow. I hope for it to be even better.


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