super quick weekend recap

I had an amazing weekend! My first lesson in a month had me a bit nervous for some reason...I've developed a weird psychosis about riding in front of National Examiners (thank you, Pony Club). But I couldn't pass on a free lesson with Sali Gear at the Northeast Region Standards and Ratings Clinic, so we threw baby horse in the Neilmobile and off we went...so so glad we did!

Baby horse was an absolute angel in his warmup (adjustable and non-explosive despite the beautiful peacocks everywhere) and his grid. At one point I thought I'd let him be done but that was not in the cards- Sali made the grid bigger! He got a little overfaced but once he got his confidence back he jumped really well, and I didn't feel the horrible position issues I worked on last month as badly as before. SO EXCITED to get that kind of lesson again. He jumped well, he flatted well, in a group, in a strange place, in a big arena with no walls, in front of a NE. This horse is going places people!

The other best part of the day was teaching some fabulous longeing to some fabulous C candidates and getting to switch onto the two red mares who were in my lesson. One switch was a little more successful than the other but I felt like I got a good read on both of them. I always want more time when I get to work on other people's horses, but anyway, it was great to get back into discussing rides with a NE and the whole strange horse scan/diagnose/treat mode of thinking. Made Auntie Caitlin proud I hope! I video of some grids but my computer won't load it from the camera. But anyway, there will be pictures later! Mom snapped some shots of the peacocks when she wasn't chasing them out of the ring (new job title: Peacock Wrangler...sounds like a reality TV show).

Always,
Marina