30 Day Challenge - Day 5

The last time you rode and what you did:

Well, I have to say that I've been pretty busy! I rode Jetta today and she was ok. She's been kinda naughty the last few rides, rushing in the trot and bracing on the bit so we've been working on that. We've gotten to ride outside for the past three days which has been super nice. Today I warmed Jetta up on the lunge over a raised pole. Then I hopped on and we went outside. There's the tiniest ditch that she has had a hard time crossing, even when Katy and Tanq had no problem! You can kind of see the terrible scary ditch from you-know-where below next to her eye. But don't worry, we conquered it!

Jetta leaped over the ditch the first few times before I made her walk through it eventually stopping in the middle. See Jetta that wasn't so bad, right? Jetta - Grumble, grumble.

But our ride wasn't over next. After conquering the scary ditch we had to escape the tarp monster that was flapping in the wind, oh sorry, I mean obviously chasing us. Then came the mutant ponies. I thought they were absolutely adorable, but Jetta knew better. They were in fact mutant cannibal ponies so Jetta had to puff herself up to make them stay away. Never mind that there was a fence and a bunch of trees between us. "Don't worry, I'll protect you mom!" Jetta says. These weren't just any ordinary ponies don't-cha-know.

But really, it was a lovely ride, Jetta is so much happier outside and she was a lot less rushy and bracey when we trotted. Can't wait till it's dry enough to go cantering!

Also, guess what? It was Jetta's birthday today! She turned 5 years old. Of course, she's technically 5 already because of the universal birthday, but still. She's actually 5 today. My baby's getting all grown up *sniff* I forgot to get wheat bran to make a mash, so don't tell Jetta. Instead she got two apples with two of her favoritest Squeezy Bun treats crumbled up. I don't think she minds that I forgot the bran mash. Here's before, half way through and after. Jetta was thrilled. She was trying to eat so fast she had apple foam spraying everywhere.

So yeah, that was my day!

Oh my gosh, this made me so excited! I found this bumper sticker and it matched my blog name - TBA = Thoroughbred Adventure which = this! I want one! No, I want several! :) I wonder if there's any way to customize it, say make it blue instead of green and add my blog url... We shall see!

30 Day Challenge - Day 4

A horse that impacted your life

Grady. My main man :) He was my first horse who really taught me how to ride. He challenged me, yet he never let me give up. I love him so much!

30 Day Challenge - Day 3

A picture of your best riding.

This is definitely one of my favorites. I worked so hard that year in 4-H and ended up almost tying for first against a girl that had done Pony Club and always just blew away the jumping competition. I think we got a score of 90 out of 100. My best ever!

30 Day Challenge - Day 2

A picture of your horse:

This is from last summer. She just looks so cute, I think, and such a pretty trot.

30 Day Challenge - Day 1

I thought that this would be fun. You guys get to learn more about me and it will be a good challenge. Click on the new tab above to learn more about it. And it will be perfect because there's 30 days in April! This probably means that I might be posting more than once a day - inserting what's happening on the Jetta front. So, without further ado, the first prompt.

A picture of you and your horse:

April Goals

Ok, let's see how I did on this past month's goals...

1) Jumping lesson for real! I'm actually going to take one this month!

Ha, ha. Nope. Still didn't take a lesson. Next month for sure! No, really, I mean it :) I will either get a lesson with Karen O'Neal or the trainer down the street at the eventing barn. I will succeed at this goal eventually!

2) Fine tune trot to canter transitions, continue playing with halt to trot, and improve downward canter transitions.

Much better. Still a work in progress but she isn't running into transitions as much and is much better about transitioning down when I ask. Halt to trot transitions are pretty perfect.

3) Work on learning to ground drive/long line, possibly?

I tried once! It went ok, so we'll just continue to improve.

4) Leg yeild, shoulder-in, etc -- we really need to work on getting more respect for my leg. She's gotten a little too desensitized...

She is doing better some days, yet others are still just as bad. Need to become more consistent. I'm planning on taking a lesson with JF to make sure I'm approaching this in the right way and maybe she'll have some new tips for me.

5) Play around with the intro and training level tests. Prepare for a dressage show ??

We did a couple times and Jetta was very good. This next month we'll definitely start practicing more for dressage and using the tests, I especially need to memorize them!

6) Do lots of grid work for jumping to work on not rushing the jumps. Use exercises from my new 101 Jumping Exercises!

Yes, we did do this, and I think that Jetta has improved a lot, not to mention that I think I've improved myself. My goal is that by June we will be able to sanely jump a full course at a canter without rushing!

Ok, and now for this month's goals.

1) Start putting together some coursework - two stride and three stride fences. Introduce some scarier fences (barrels and oxers).

2) Jumping Lesson
3) Go on a trail ride - possibly to Elijah Bristow or school cross country somewhere if weather permits

4) Practice dressage

Shouldn't be too hard...