Trial Run

Exciting day today!! We finally, FINALLY (almost) got the stalls finished! And they are finished enough to use :) I put the horses in last night for the first time. I was so worried. I knew that Jazz would be fine, but last time Jetta was in these stalls she tried to kick them down and Grady hates being stalled. Grady has always hated being stalled so I've never stalled him. The new stalls though are huge and have runs, so I thought he'd be pretty ok because they're so open and his friends are nearby.

I was super glad though to see them all perfectly fine in their stalls in the morning, dozing. Yay! I was so worried all night, I felt tense like I was just waiting for a loud noise to indicate disaster. And every little noise I heard made me worry. One hay manger still has to be bolted to the wall and two stalls need the water buckets hung. But so far so good! They are all back in their stalls again tonight. I'll try to take pictures so you can see them all cozy in their new digs!

Since I got off work early today, I rode Jazz. Without stirrups. Yikes. It was terrible, I'm so incredibly out of shape. It's embarrassing. I think I was about 2 minutes into posting the trot and I started to feel the burn and started sweating. Geez. I ended up riding for 20 minutes - posting, sitting and doing 2-point in the trot. Ouch, ouch, ouch!

And another fun part... I played around with riding 3rd Level movements! SO. MUCH. FUN! I watched several 3rd Level tests at Dressage at Devonwood and it looked like a really fun test and I know that Jazz can pretty much do all the movements. I am just itching to try it out at a show and see what feedback I get :) Our shoulder-ins are good, though we tend to lose impulsion a little bit the longer we go. Collected and extended work is ok - nothing spectacular, but she tries hard. Half pass and flying changes are a little sticky, but we can do them. Her rein back, turn on the haunches, and counter canter are awesome. I just want to try it :) I know I wouldn't get a fantastic score, because Jazz isn't on the uphill side, no matter how hard she tries. But I'd love to try it just because!