Jack's Journal

Yesterdays lesson went well. I rode in my friends antares again just to see if that made a difference. We started with the same under saddle work that we did last week and then worked on adding in a line. My ankles were killing me but I was able to sit back into the saddle and sat thru his kick outs with out a problem. Jack hasn't so far been a fan of using his hind end. When I push him up in the canter to get him from stalling out I often get a little kick out. In my saddle it feels like a small buck since I'm always perched forward. In the other saddles I am able to get deep into the seat and they just feel like a little hiccup.

I also was able to buy a pair of jointed stirrups off a friend at the barn and so I rode in my saddle with those today. I was able to get my heel down better but still would end up perching and resting my hands on his withers once we got going. I can't believe it but the saddle makes such a huge difference! Yesterday was fun and I felt like I was able to work on our performance. Today was frustrating because I knew where I wanted myself to be positioned but just couldn't get myself there.

As soon as my other horse sells I am going to put things in full motion to get a new saddle. I'm hoping to get a test saddle of the M. Toulouse Annice since it is a knockoff of an antares. I just hope that the person that is looking at her for a second time this weekend will buy her!

This week is nice for me because I took off work today and friday so my friend and I could go down to Iowa to watch the barn compete at Maffitt Lake. We ended up not being able to afford to go down for the full week ($100 a night for hotel adds up) so we are not going down until Thursday. I kept my day off today so I could ride. (Still had to go in to work since my employees were being 12 year olds and I had to issue a collective verbal warning to them)

So tuesdays are the day that they take down the jumps and do a good grating on the arena so we did a flat lesson today. I think that I really like flat lessons. They are so good for me and for Jack too! We are continuing to work on transitions, getting Jack to use his hind end, responding to my leg quickly and giving to the bit.

We are so moving in the right direction and we had some really nice transitions. He actually surprised me once with a lovely walk to canter transition right off my leg. I was working really hard to get him to use himself and we didn't get any kick outs today. Yay! Now, we just have to continue that trend and keep working on the pulling on the bit.

Lane said that my position was right on today too, so that makes me feel better. Tomorrow might be rough jumping though because my right ankle hurts even with the jointed stirrups.

Jack has been moved into a pasture with a retired (and toothless) horse and another TB. He's still bottom of the totem pole but they aren't nearly as aggressive to him.

Ugh. Jack finally pulled off his sprung shoe yesterday at the beginning of our lesson. (The farrier has been fired because my trainer has been trying to contact him for 2 weeks now, a different farrier is coming today for him)

My friend Kim and I just arrived in West Des Moines Iowa to watch the barn show at the Maffitt Lake horse show. The barn has about 14 horses here so there will always be a class to watch. I'm not sure when the Grand prix classes are but I'm very excited to see the head trainer and the barn owner ride in a show finally!

6 hours in a car is a really love drive to watch a show, but I guess we are a little horse crazy. I'm scouting out the show because I am hoping we will be able to afford to go to it next year.

Very good flat lesson yesterday. We worked on straight lines including transitions. I don't have to tell competitive horse people how hard it is to keep a horse straight. Lol. Very helpful lesson for me and I think we will continue to work on the flat a lot more.

Today we worked on a grid and he did pretty well for his first time. He is grinding his teeth even worse and my trainer wants to try a different feed with him and get him a mineral block. He's already on an antacid/probiotic. She'd also like to try a different bit that he can play with a little.

I also tried a test saddle from smartpak. The m toulouse annice and it was pretty comfortable except for this reinforcement strip at the bottom of the saddle flap. It was extremely uncomfortable and I think I actually have a bruise on both my calves from the strip. I can't believe that anyone actually finds that saddle comfortable. Oh well, I think I will have to try the antares spooner next or take a trip down to saddlers row to try out saddles again. Yuck.

We tried a different bit today (a single jointed, 2 ring happy mouth) with a converter and it worked really well. It really helped with how much he pulled down on me. He still pulled but at least he responded to me when I tried to get him to stop.

I'm going to try to get one so we can use it when we are jumping from now on.

Tomorrow I am going to do another lesson with Jack and then I am going to lesson on the school horse Steve. I need more time in the saddle since I can only get to the barn 3 days a week. The head trainer said I need to do like 6 laps at the canter without stirrups so maybe we will work on that tomorrow with Steve.

Oh boy! Be careful what you ask for! I told my trainer that I wanted to work on getting my seat stronger (ie riding another horse in a second lesson)

Well today we did no stirrup work, then did my lesson with Jack and then the lesson with Steve.

Needless to say I'm just a bit sore! Tomorrow is going to be rough! We are going to try to have me ride Steve at least once a week and I will be starting my lesson with laps at the canter with no stirrups. She promises me that even in a month I will start to see a difference.

That's the great thing about having a trainer, they can push you to do things you don't really want to do to help you be a better rider. There is no way I would have stayed cantering as long as I did today without her encouragement. I will pay for it tomorrow but hopefully this will help me get my seat back!

So very sore.....

I had a horrible lesson on Thursday. It was an extremely emotional day so I think that was causing me some problems. I had 2 lessons in the morning, dropped off Signa at her new home (2 1/2 hours round trip) then come home and help my Mom bury her 17 year old dog in our back yard.

I was having huge problems with keeping myself from getting pulled out of my seat and it was so frustrating. I spent basically the entire lesson in tears.

Then on thursday night my antares spooner demo showed up on my front porch when I wasn't expecting it. So on Saturday I lessoned in that saddle and things went soooo much better. I absolutely loved that saddle. I was able to stay up right and wasn't getting pulled all over the place and it was such a relief. Then on Sunday I lessoned in the barn owners old Antares that she is selling.

So I found that the spooner's flap didnt go far enough forward but I loved the balance of it and how comfortable it was. Her Antares is an 18 inch so I was just too big of a seat. The flap was fantastic though. I called smartpak and verified that the spooner doesn't come in a more forward flap so my next option is the Antares jumping saddle which is more forward to begin with (but costs $1000 more than the spooner which is already twice the price of my last saddle).

So, I have an Antares jumping saddle in a 17inch #2 flap demo saddle on its way, hopefully to show up friday. Knowing my pocket book, I'm going to love this saddle, but at this point I just don't care. I got my annual bonus so I guess I'm just going to have to go for it.

We had an awesome lesson today! I still have the spooner demo so I rode in that again (the Antares demo comes on Friday). We worked on a large figure 8 with a jump at the end of the ring to work on tight turns. Then we did a little course with a 2 stride. Jack did fantastic and I was actually better able to see my spots today.

Then I got to be the first person to ride the new school horse "Louie". He's a super cute black TB/Welsh pony and Lane wanted to see someone take him around. OMG he was so much fun!! Very responsive, great brakes and no fear over the jumps. We had a little trouble with the left to right lead change but I think it was probably me not him. He's just so freaking adorable and sweet! I'm happy to see him join our barn and excited that Lane asked me to ride him for her.

Also, my friend finally decided to get the TB that she was trying. He was vetted yesterday and had some arthritis in his right front so she was really worried but he's 13 so it doesn't seem super out of line to me. She really wants a hunter but this guy is jumper all the way. He always jumps at least a foot extra over the jumps and loves to go very fast. He's not what she wanted but at least she now has something fun and safe to ride!

Another lesson tomorrow.

Well, we tried to have a lesson today but Jack was off on his front left. The pasture is really muddy so I'm hoping he just tweaked something out there. He's staying in tonight just in case. I'm going to be completely devastated if this turns out to be a problem. Ugh.

Then I went out to catch the lesson horse Steve and he and his buddies were tearing around the paddock and kicking out. I couldn't even get within 20 feet of him so I gave up.

Bright point is that I got out of the barn and back home before noon. Lol. My saddle should be coming tomorrow so I can't wait to give it a try!