Interesting discussion for today:
What would you still like to accomplish in your riding career if fear were no object? If you could totally get over it and just ride the way that you know you can?
I'd have to say I'd love to do a little cross-country jumping...if I could ever get over my fear of riding in the open where there is no wall to bounce off of to stop! You know, the kind where the fences aren't too big. Like they do in Europe on the riding vacations for all of the scaredy cat Americans. LOL.
How about the rest of you?
What would you still like to accomplish in your riding career if fear were no object? If you could totally get over it and just ride the way that you know you can?
I'd have to say I'd love to do a little cross-country jumping...if I could ever get over my fear of riding in the open where there is no wall to bounce off of to stop! You know, the kind where the fences aren't too big. Like they do in Europe on the riding vacations for all of the scaredy cat Americans. LOL.
How about the rest of you?
Had to edit to add a picture of the VLC. I remembered the post about not trying to do things when you're exhausted, and I was exhausted last night, so I just worked him in the round pen. (And put polo wraps on him for the first time...hilarious. You'd have thought they were soaked with acid. Then he did the Saddlebred walk stepping off wearing them. Too funny! He's so quiet about stuff you'd think would excite him, like horses blasting off running right next to him. But skeeery things like polo wraps...OMG!) Tonight, we'll do ride number...wow, I think we are up to six!
67 comments:
Fugs, I'd have to come with you on one of those tours! Preferably one in Ireland...somewhere I have that brochure, and it's always been a dream. (I'm assuming that money's no object either?)
I'd also like to ride the Tevis cup endurance ride...100 miles in 24 hours or less. Not only am I totally chicken about riding outside of an arena, but I can't even CONCEIVE of doing it at night! How cool would that be?!
If fear were not a factor? Showjumping!! I would love to ride a horse over a course of 5'+ fences! The highest I've ever competed at was 3'6". And I've only occasionally jumped a little over 4'. And both of those were years ago. I don't think I've ever jumped 5'. What a rush that would be!
>>(I'm assuming that money's no object either?)<<
Of course not! We're fantasizing here, we might as well go all the way!
Yep, a cross country vacation, but I want to ride the Caledonian Canal through the Scottish Highlands...or be tough enough to do the Tevis!
I'll probably stick to training level, trail riding and do some re-enactment stuff when Aowyn comes home though, LOL
Hmmn, I'd go outside into the beautiful spring day and get on my Very Large Gelding!!! And ultimately, I'd love to do a riding tour, Ireland or Spain on those lovely Andalusians.
I would like to go swimming with my horse. I know that sounds pretty tame, but you have to understand that I am TERRIFIED of water that isn't crystal clear and chlorinated. I'm not afraid of jumping or going fast, but I am terrified of water that I can't see what's in it. However I don't see this goal being accomplished with Pixie because she hates water...
I'm with icepony -- I'd love to ride the Tevis. Maybe someday... On a smaller scale, finding a good trainer and working on huntseat again with maybe just a few small fences. I was scared spitless when I took my first jumping lessons years ago, but it grew on me. The memories are still enough to give me butterflies, but when it was over, woohoo! I wouldn't mind finding that feeling of exhilaration again. Tiny jumps only, though!
Fugs:
I would love to fox hunt (as long as they didn't kill anything). I love the pagentry, both horse and human, and the parties however I have way too much fear these days. And, I have my own business. It totally depends on me so I have to be careful. I recently cracked my right ankle in a manure pile accident (don't ask, I'm just getting too old for all this!) and it has put everyone out and my business is suffering. So I dream of fox hunting but that's it...
Just a word of warning, my accident happened because I was overly tired. If you're 40 or over and you're feeling tired, then don't do whatever it is you're plan on doing. Listen to your body. I mean, I could have left the stalls until the next day, no big deal. Now I have 42 days of recovery - ugh! I just push and push and drag my weary body around. It just ain't right!
Anyway, sorry to bring a fun conversation down and now Tally Ho! (at least from the Lazy Boy!)
Rolex is on 5pm NBC. I just hope they don't show the bad stuff that happened.
It's not a matter of fear but of still having some working years left in me, or so I tell myself. When I give that up I want to take a long ride. I've thought about it since I was a kid, looking out the car window and wondering what was on the other side of the hill. (I've since discovered that it was the Santa Ynez valley and many folks beat me there.) But it doesn't matter to me that it be a unique or new ride. I just want to get on and go for as long as I feel like going. If this sounds a bit like Dr. Chumley's dream in 'Harvey' perhaps it is. Obviously I haven't done it yet.
S.
Thanks for the tip June, I'd have missed it. (Rolex)
S
Show jumping!
I hope to one day do a horseback tour of Ireland. I also would love to do endurance riding, but I need to get back into shape. In other news, I got on my mare today and went for a ride around the property. This mare is one that I bought as a weanling, she was little, sickly and had an injury, but she was just sweet. We let her grow and started her under saddle at 4. Then when she was 6 I sold her, big mistake, regretted it from the second she stepped on the trailer, but I sold with a buy back contract. Well long story short, I got an email Jan 2008 saying that they were getting out of horses and would I like to buy back Angel. Of course I said yes sight unseen. They hauled her back for me and I was a little surprised. Her hooves were very overgrown and seriously cracked. I called the farrier immediately and he came out, trimmed, and recommended shoes. She now has front shoes. Oh, she also has white line disease, which i am treating with bleach and it is doing great. Anyway, the first time I rode she did lots of head tossing and acting a little naughty, so today, I used a different saddle and a hackamore and she was great. I should mention, I am getting back into riding again. I have continued to own horses but haven't had anything to ride for the past couple of years. Now, I have a horse in training and the mare I just got back, so I am trying to find my seat and my courage again. Great blog.
JoLynn
I would love to do cross-country. Particularly, I would like to do it on one of those horses that bolts toward the jumps and leaps with mad glee over anything and everything that it is pointed at.
I'd also like to ride Teddy O'Connor, on a note of pure fantasy. Damn, that horse looks fun.
Oh yeah, if we can "borrow" a horse for this fantasy, may I please ride Blue Hors Matine, the incredible dressage horse?
The funny thing for me is that I HATE working in an arena. All those walls to get scraped off on - I get sort of claustrophobic. Put me on a trail in the middle of nowhere and I'm fine.
I'll put Tevis on my list too. I think it would be a blast.
I would cash in all my CDs and live on the show circuit...I would work piece meal jobs here n there, banding and braiding, shoveling stalls, just doing cash jobs for gas and a meal...take 2 of my horses and pray the warranty on truck n trailer are good...what a dream...
My dream is to do the cross-country ride either in Ireland or the Scottish Highlands. I'm trying to finagle that as my 50th birthday present and actually DO it in the next two or three years.
Drive an Amateur Park Harness horse!! Fear isn't the factor here, it's availability. At nationals they sometimes auction off a ride or drive with a past world champion and I've been tempted to bid, but my money always goes towards more mundane things like shavings and farriers. I did have the thrill of driving the world champion carriage horse at OKC a few years ago, in fact the day before he won, so I guess I warmed him up for his victory (yeah, right).
If fear, money and aging bodies and injuries didn't matter, jumpers! I want to do the Jokers wild at the Washington International. And I wanna do it on an AMERICAN breed! LOL!
I no sooner posted than I got an email with this link:
http://www.equestrianvacations.com/
When I lived near the ocean I would see people riding on the beach, into the surf, my little dog would bark at them, I would file that away as a wish,'cause I won't swim in the ocean. The fear of little ocean beasties and seaweed is always there. It's a relatively new fear too. I surfed as a teen......
four words: NFR Barrel Racing Championships.
(That of course kind of assumes that talent is no object, as well ...)
If fear were no object I would FINALLY be able to ride without that nagging little voice, equal parts of self-preservation and self-sabotage, that whispers in my ear about all the potential disasters and wrecks, keeping me from being truly PRESENT with the horse and unafraid to go WITH the horse whatever it chose to do.
Most definitely riding tours. Assuming I had the time and money of course.
I also love cross country, very exciting, although I would go along with the "not too large" course, I would do it more for fun and excitement, not keen on dangerous. I was visiting a horse place recently and in one paddock was an unused water jump combination (with no water in it) ... had fun visualising how I would do it (my choice was not the most enormous option LOL).
I also have done some cattle work in the past and would enjoy that too. I have a young (2yo) Australian Stock Horse and would like to try campdrafting some day ... assuming access to training and cattle.
When my young horse is more mature and going under saddle, I'd like to book myself and my daughter (on her horse) on a week long cattle drive holiday. Would be good to put some "legs" on the young horse.
Hmm.... some people do this all the time, but I'd *love* to sit on a really good cutting horse and work a cow. It's so fast and the turns are so tight that it really scares me, but at the same time looks so fun!
Or.. I'd like to do a riding tour of the country - or a riding tour of Europe.. that would be fantastic!! Imagine riding a horse through the streets of Rome... {:-O
Yup, that would be fun!
((BTW, I'm enjoying this blog! Definately good incentive for me to work with my horse.. he's not really "green" but he isn't finished either. Rode bareback today (too lazy to heft the saddle up there...) and got a *beautiful* turn on the haunches and the softest back-up I've ever gotten... 20 feet back in a halter with 1oz of pressure --> pure heaven!))
Put me down for XC as well! I've done a bit of pair pace--loved it, want to do it again--and took jumping lessons for a year. I just can't mentally jump more than 2 feet. I'd love to be able to do 3'-3'6", but don't know if I'll ever get there. My goal with lessons (aboard a sane lesson horse that had enough confidence for both of us) was to get over my fear of higher fences, and altho I did gain some confidence, I'm still not at the 3 ft. mark. But...cest la vie. I guess it's okay if I never get there.
I'd also like to do some riding tours. Someday. My first idea is to ride in Vermont in the fall, from the Icelandic horse farm there--that would be great fun! And then maybe in Iceland itself.
Oh, that is easy. I would love to run a 14 second pattern and ride a world class cutting horse in a pen full of cows.
Tevis, for sure. And I'd get back on my 5 year old and make him into the best damned endurance horse I could.
It's funny--I used to be afraid of jumping too high and doing it all to fast. Now that I've got my mind set on endurance, it seems like it'd be okay to fall off in an arena when on the trail I could fall on rocks or over a cliff. Fear is so relative.
I've been inspired! After my trip to the ER a few weeks ago (courtesy of above mentioned five-year-old), I'm paying someone else with bigger cahones to ride his little butt and I've enrolled in lessons again. I was terrified for my first lesson today, but rode a sweet little 14.2 guy that was so solid and sturdy I felt like I could do anything again! So different from riding squidgy greenies that goose and bend and wiggle around like wet spaghetti. It helped he was so short and the arena had just had another large load of soft sand put in. Just the ticket to get my nerve back!
Elly
I've been reading this blog since you started it, and can so relate. I bought a 16.3 standardbred last year in June, who is a perfect gentleman when it comes to being ridden. My husband who has never ridden a horse in his life even rides him with no problems what so ever.
But I just can't do it. I have a couple of times ridden him since we got him, but its surprisingly easy to find excuses not to. I have to much uni work, its too cold, etc etc. I'm sure he doesn't mind being a paddock ornament, but I still feel guilty.
Anyways, if I had no fear, I would go on a drag hunt (thats the non-murdering version of a fox hunt, you follow a sent thats been dragged ahead of you for those who don't know). And I would also love to do what some of the others have said, a riding tour of different countries, etc etc.
Definitely foxhunting. Some camping alone with my horse as well.
I'd do the Tevis. I'm still hoping to get at least one 50 mile ride before my Arab is too old. She's 16...I have a few years yet. If I can just get outside, and actually go faster than a trot, we'll be golden.
Ahhhh, "If fear were no object I'd begin to break my safe, sane and dead quiet OTTB to the sound of gunfire so that he could be my mount for AKC Pointing Breed Hunting Dog Field Trials (where the only horse that's ever used is a Tennessee Walking Horse). But since "fear" is definitely sometimes an object and I'm probably better off "borrowing" a friend's T-Walker when competing in Field Trials anyway, this is one dream that may never happen!
TB Hunter Lady-
You could always try starting your breaking to gunfire the way that some pointer trainers do. They sell tapes and CDs of gunfire. You play it real soft at meal times, so the horse/dog associates good food with the sound. Over the course of weeks or months, you crank it up to full volume, and the animal doesn't care. When switching to the real thing, you have a helper several hundred yards away with a .22 blank pistol, and ride past. Again, you slowly decrease distance, as the animals adjusts. Eventually, you're so used to the sound that the field trial gunfire is nothing.
Oh, and my fear- cantering bareback. I used to, I used to be fearless about it. I can walk and trot without any issues, but whenever I try to ask for a canter, I tense up because I remember the time the horse I was on at camp bucked me off into the fence. I remember that when I got back I decided to get over it right away. I tensed up on the horse I had ridden bareback so many times as I asked for the canter, and he spooked and dumped me... and I just can't get up the guts. I can sometimes drop my stirrups at the trot and then ask for a canter, but if I'm bareback, I have no self confidence. I'd love to be able to just put a bridle on, get on, and ride off without the fear dragging me down.
Fear is no object for me, but it really doesn't have to be since money is a big enough object in itself. It's my goal to ride in Grand Prix's one day. I will be a Grand Priix jumper if it kills me. The highest I've ever jumped is 5'6 and the highest I've ever shown over is 4'3, but I'm pretty out of practice right now. I hope to regain some show mileage this summer though, and I'm moving closer to home so hopefully I'll be able to get in more riding time over the school year. Alabama isn't exactly hunter/jumper capital of the world, but I'm from Tampa, FL and moving to Gainesville right outside of Ocala, so the odds are much higher :)
I think every horse person dreams of one of those Ireland Horseback vacations. Dover's doing some sort of mother/daughter special with them right now actually. Too bad my mom is terrified of horses.
I've always wanted to try some big time cross-country courses too. Something within my capabilities, but not the dinky little 2' stuff either.
My heart is really in showing though, My dream is to just travel and follow the A-circuit until I'm too old to get on a horse.
I'd play horseball. I'm still a baby really, so still have a bit of bounce, and the idea of hitting the dirt doesn't bother me, I'll do XC, hunting, SJ and the rest on my wee mare. But the idea of throwing myself off the side of her near a bunch of other hooves? It makes me shudder.
Of course, in three years that'll probably all change when it comes time to break out my VL filly (one year old next month and already well on her way to 14h). Bearing in mind that her momma is only 15.1h and has been my main ride for six years, I see such tasks as tacking up becoming the nightmares of my future!
If time/money/fear didn't matter, I'd like to see if Goof and I could do a hundred miles by ourselves. I'd really like to try Cavalry at the OD.
If *talent* didn't matter either, I'd like to learn to do three day event -- not pro level, just beginner stuff where the fences are a lot smaller and the dressage judges will not snicker too loudly.
Personally, I'd LOVE to learn how to jump. I have an inner ear issue that has kept me afraid of trying. Not to mention, where I live, there isn't a single trainer! I'd sooo need lessons and a lot of 'em since I've been a western rider most of my life. I just started riding English again, after 20 years off, about 2 years ago.
" Floyd said...
Oh, and my fear- cantering bareback. I used to, I used to be fearless about it."
Too ironic...my fear, right now, is the same...I started riding Starlette w/rope halter & bareback this winter (deep snow, seemed softer & not so far to fall if I did come off) and she seemed to prefer it! Of course I ached afterwards, but it really has helped me with my confidence. After reading this blog, but before your post, yesterday we trotted bareback w/halter...and she was great and I kept my seat (it helps her trot is as smooth as her walk..amazing for a QH). As soon as I get that firm, we will canter (gasp!) and I hope she won't buck! We are riding in an uneven pasture, so that I am keeping balanced is even more encouraging.
Has anyone else noticed their horse acting better without saddle/bridle? Not that I would trail ride her that way, but it seems she does not have any unpleasant memories associated with riding this way, and is much better (same with the English saddle)l
>>My heart is really in showing though, My dream is to just travel and follow the A-circuit until I'm too old to get on a horse.<<
At any given time, at least 25% of me wants to drop everything and go polo groom in the desert...owning eight horses does keep me from any thought of actually doing it though! I admit polo grooming is the ONLY job I have EVER had that I have loved. I really hate sitting behind a desk all day, but it's unavoidable.
>>Has anyone else noticed their horse acting better without saddle/bridle? <<
Sure, especially horses with stress/fear issues from prior abuse. No tack seems like less of a big deal to them. I think it's a good way to ease them back into work if they've been manhandled before.
Oh, and I forgot I would love to ride a horse al'naturale. You know no bridle, no saddle, no halter. Just me the horse and the wind. Of course it can't be just any horse; it would have to be my QH. He is slightly intemidating to me but there is something about him that works on me like magnet. I just can't resist him.
I am with bigpainthorse.....NFR Barrel Racing.
I'd love to be a hot shit Rolex rider. :) Jumping over a giant wooden duck.
Jackie said "Has anyone else noticed their horse acting better without saddle/bridle?"
Yep -- and after we had some bridle evading issues, I switched to a bitless bridle and will be checking on wolf-teeth again this spring. It hasn't been an issue, but changing bits didn't help and the bitless did, so... Of course, it could be just that he's lazy, and full bridle & saddle means a real workout, but popping on in the pasture with a halter thus far hasn't meant he has to SWEAT :-)
"polo wraps on him for the first time...hilarious. You'd have thought they were soaked with acid. Then he did the Saddlebred walk stepping off wearing them. Too funny! He's so quiet about stuff you'd think would excite him, like horses blasting off running right next to him. But skeeery things like polo wraps...OMG!"
He sounds like my boy! My OTSTB will work calmly when a motorcycle goes racing by us (or when an idiot boarder decides to bring her pot-bellied pig out to the schooling ring to play in the sand) but the dressage letters on the arena walls are the harbingers of doom - ready to leap from their laminated shackles and consume all 17 hands of him if he doesn't keep an eye on them!
I think if fear were no object I would love to take my boy over a cross country course that had fences that were large enough that they made him look like a normal sized horse. I can't see that happening any time soon though - I haven't jumped anything big since I was a foolish teen and he is still pretty sure that a rail more than a foot off the ground is a permanent fence...
HAHA- the polo wraps thing is too funny!
I once put a fly boot on my mare, she lifted her leg and she wouldn't put it down. She just stood there frozen, like her leg was stuck or something. Must've been five minutes before she eased it on down...and then it would touch and she lift again. Might be a good way to give her exercise on rainy days????
I've been wanting to try polo wraps but we'll see.
BTW- VLC is BEAUTIFUL!!!
If fear were no object I would definitely want to do cross country jumping! I would also like to jump bigger fences in arena jumping. I have never gotten to take enough lessons in jumping to get really good at it. I thought I was too old to start again (47), but I jumped some little cross rails in a class last year and I was HOOKED again.
Oh! And I wanted to add, with my riding there were 2 incidents with Dude this weekend - he shied or something when I was mounting and my muscle memory put my butt in the saddle while my head was still saying, "There's the ground, you're going to FALL!!!" Second, a bee got in his face right after a jump and he hopped around a little bit, I lost a stirrup, but my butt stayed firmly in the saddle. I am starting to have a LOT more confidence that my balance is coming back!
VLC is so shiny! I wish my VLG would hurry up and shed out already. We had a snowstorm in late April, so he's got brand new guard hairs and everything. I've been shedding him out for weeks, now! This weekend, it is time for a bath! I'm also going to clip his legs (belgian + tb = scraggly feathers from elbows to hooves!) and beard (as if his head didn't look big enough already) and pull his unsightly mane!
If fear weren't a factor, I'd do the really big jumpers. I'm an eventer, and for some reason cross country doesn't scare me the least little bit. I feel free and content, my horse is happy, and everything just... works. I don't feel scared, I feel bold. I love galloping in open fields and jumping up and down banks and over big obstacles.
However, in the stadium ring I second-guess EVERYTHING. Distance, pace, whether or not I'm jumping the right frickin' fence... EVERYTHING. When I'm out on course in cross country, I just gallop up to fences and go over them. In the ring, I'm too chickenshit to take the long spot that I know is there, or I can't make up my mind about whether I should add or shorten until it's almost too late and I chip in. I'm scared of taking rails and tripping over them (this happened once, and resulted in me and my VLG falling over, and him slamming into the back of my hip with his shoulder, and me sitting on a heating pad at work for a week!).
I've had more accidents stadium jumping than I have out on cross country. And because I'm constantly second-guessing everything, the ride isn't as good and I get a tight knot of fear in my gut that just disappears once I'm out doing cross country.
You should do a little cross country! It is SO fun. And if you're on a halfway sane horse and you're not doing any of the really big stuff, you'll have a blast!
Girth recommendation: Toklat makes a western cinch like an english girth with elastic at one cinch end it is wool fleece backed.
If I could do anything. I don't think it is anything riding - if I had 20 year old knees and stamina I would still jump high fences. If I get the new horse started well enough I will do a small schooling trial this fall.
What would I like to do most I think ride from 4 star hotel to 4 star hotel by myself with out getting lost.
it's more about the money than fear, but i would love to do high level eventing. i get just a *wee* bit nervous jumping though, so i would need a completely honest horse if i was going to go all the way. any enough money for more than one lesson a month :)
PS: Does this work? If so, that's a picture of me and the VLG (Sebastian) schooling some cross country three years ago. It's a wee little fence, since he was still pretty green at the time!
I volunteered Tevis last year and now dream of doing it! Amazing just being there and helping out. I worked the first vet check with a great group of folks.
Fugly
Help FHOTD has gone blank and live search says it can not find it.
Arrgh I dislike msn.
Hope all is well with my favorite blog
Too funny about the polo wraps! My NVLG (not very large gelding - !) had a very similiar response to shipping boots -- he flailed around for a good five minutes trying to figure out how to walk with things on his legs... yet he didn't blink once when I put a harness on him and hooked him up to a tire. :-? Silly horse!
deanna may, he IS a VLG indeed! I love how he takes his job Very Seriously -- you make a lovely pair.
Thank you, Ellen!
I'm six feet tall (long legs!) so I need a VERY large gelding. Haha.
When I got my first horse in my early 20's after riding a lot as a teenager, I got into a bad wreck early on and spent 4 whole years totally phobic of riding. Panic attacks, bloody noses, crying... the whole 9 yards. I never gave up though. It was very frusterating being an "intermediate" rider, that was reduced to lead line rides with side walkers twice a week for a whole year without making any progress.
It took me finding a VERY special horse to get me off high center. It's 11 years later, and I'm "cured." Still a cautious rider, but no longer qualify as phobic. That mare is 17 now, and is a permanent fixture at my home forever more.
If I had NO fear issues, unlimited money and no worries of getting hurt, I'd take lessons till I was the best rider I could be... and then I'd train gaited mules for the old and timid. I'd ride across the US from one side to the other. I'd Roman ride, with one foot on each horse's back... and I'd do medieval reenactment games, like jousting, or any of another number. I'd ride a horse in every single country I could go to...and I'd do it as long as I could get up into the saddle, even if I lived to be 100.
-Chel, in Iowa. Gaited horses, mammoth donkeys and silly borzoi dogs. :)
floyd and jackie, re: cantering bareback.
My advice would be--get out and do a LOT of bareback riding, at what speed you're comfortable. Work in an arena so it's smooth, ride a horse that will be steady to help give you confidence. Ask for the canter in a corner, and concentrate on keeping yourself soft, esp. in the hips and center. Just ask for a few strides if that's all you can do.
I regularly ride bareback, and do a lot of bridleless riding (in the arena, not ready to do that on a trail ride, altho I've gone b-back w/ only a halter a few times). It's very...liberating, and GREAT for your balance and seat, esp. riding "au naturel." =D
I would love to go out and gallop. I spend so much time worrying that if I go fast I'll get tired and fall off and get another concussion. Maybe if I get in shape I wont be so worried about getting to tired to ride. Someday...
If I could, I'd love to continue to start unwanted OTTBs over fences. I just feel that the youngster I'm currently working (at my age) might be the last one in me. I fear breaking!
Something I've always wanted to do since I was a kid, is to ride the circus horses. You know, stand up on them as they circle the ring. Kind of silly, but someday.
I would love to ride across Ireland!
I would also like to make it to Sport Horse Nationals and place in whatever class I go in with my up coming foal.
Fugs, VLC has a beautiful head, but you already know that!
Yeah, I am an equitation rider, but this is fantasizing -- who cares? I would LOVE to jump Rolex's infamous Head of the Lake JUST ONCE. Please, pretty please!
" robyn said...
floyd and jackie, re: cantering bareback. My advice would be--get out and do a LOT of bareback riding, at what speed you're comfortable. Work in an arena so it's smooth, ride a horse that will be steady to help give you confidence. Ask for the canter in a corner, and concentrate on keeping yourself soft, esp. in the hips and center"
Thanks! Sadly those are not options...I have Starlette and a pasture in MI (I do live next door to the "trainer" but I won't use her arenas...long story, goes against my ethics). I did finally get a nice, collected canter, without the side thumping..it did take a bit (she is finally figuring it out...I really think that she needs to realize that she is to canter without spur jabbing), and I finally got to work on my seat again. Did find out a silly thing...I curl my toes when trying to get her to canter LOL! So once I stopped that, my seat changed and I kept my stirrups! Go Figure!
Right now, I'd be happy to just get up the nerve to start lessons again. I've developed arthritis in my lower back since the last time I rode, and for some reason am now totally paranoid that riding will Hurt.
I would dearly love to be brave enough to try some cross country also, though. I love dressage, but jumping seems like it'd be fun to do on occasion.
Oh, I would so do show jumping and cutting is fear, money, and talent were no object. My trainer plopped me on the back of her champion cutting horse stud when I was about 10 and OMG, the way he moved. Absolutely amazing.
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