did i ever reply to your previous private message lol....i forget if i did or not!!

**Read other two posts before!**
Thanks for the comments on Maverick, I'm so proud of him, he's being such an amazing boy lately!!
Penny sounds nice...Sassy and clever, sounds like Cheyenne lol :p Yeah I know the feeling of the "former lawn ornament" horse. That was Maverick as well. He hardly knew ANYTHING! That's good that your trainer knows Penny well...That's always nice, you'd think it'd be pretty hard to teach someone on a random horse...I've never tried, all the kids I've taught were on my old lesson horses or on Cheyenne. It's always good to get on horses that you aren't completely comfortable with as well, so it isn't necessarily a bad thing that you aren't at the same level. Although it might just be me thinking that...I'm VERY set on becoming a horse trainer at the moment so I just wanna hop on a bad horse and get thrown right now lol sounds dumb doesn't it?? Lucky for me I'm always the first one who gets to ride Debbie's new horses (after her obviously) so :p

Chey's ok...She's currently being leased to two beginners...one lady doesn't ride often, the other is a teen, Chey's teaching them like she taught me. Unfortunately, her heath isn't the best. She's getting arthritus in her knees and her movements are a lot more stiff now. Somehow the girl convinced my coach to let her compete in gymkhanas this year even though Chey was supposed to retire. The other bad thing is that she pulls on Cheyenne's mouth a lot and when Chey fights back she pulls more as discipline. Chey's mouth is SUPER sore now and VERY sensitive. It was pretty funny though, I jumped on Cheyenne and worked her again like old times....Her head was down PERFECTLY in a BEAUTIFUL Western Pleasure headset, she gave me a nice slow gaits and stopped without throwing her head (I couldn't use my hands AT ALL) and the girl's like HOW DO YOU DO IT!! lol I sometimes really regret leaving her, but I still love her as if she was mine and I hop on her whenever I get the chance!

Let's just decide that we'll always read the latest messages first because I talk a lot and it won't all fit on one message lol

Yeah it was pretty exciting beating my coach...Course she kicked my butt in Western though because she doesn't do English but she's good at Western and my horse doesn't neck rein :p But we talked and decided that since our points are going to be so close for year end awards, we'd agree that we'd still be friends after one of us kicks the other's butt lol :p That's awesome that you'll be going to shows! What discipline will you be competing in? :)

Lol READ THE POSTS BELOW BEFORE THIS :) Penny is a pretty good girl!! We've been working together for almost a yr now! She really helped me get through Angels death and I can never repay her for the happiness she's brought me! She's really funny for the most part...very sassy and clever too! Sometimes our personalities clash and we have our bad days but they are mostly filled with happiness! Penny wasn't really worked too much (as in she was mainly a yard ornament ) before I started working with her! She's the type of horse that catches on quickly so that's good! Luckily, my riding instructor was her original trainer so Vicki knows what penny knows and what she doesn't! We're not at the level of riding that I would like but hey! It's better than not having a horse at all! So I'm blessed to be able to work with her :)

Hey I watched your video and Maverick deffinately has some really great potential for poles and barrels (I watched his first gymkhana vid too :) ) he looked very forward moving and willing to do what you want!! And the turns he took on those barrels were really good for his first gymkhana!!! It looks like you guys are a great team!!! :) I bet if u keep working with him on barrels and poles like you are now , he gonna be a kick butt gaming horse lol

OMG!! you beat your coach that is soooooo awesome!!! and high point too! thats sooo great!!!!!! DDD lol i couldnt watch the vid yet cus this dumb school computer is keeping me from watching it, but i will definitely watch it when i get back! and thanks about the balance advice! i will definitly talk to my instructor about the lounge line and cantering! :) she wants to start having ALOT more lessons now that we are getting closer to shows! and once i graduate in a few weeks ill have alot more time to be out working with Penny! is Cheyenne still going strong? :)

READ THIS MESSAGE AFTER THE OTHER ONE!!!
Oh and you were wondering about Maverick! He's one of those horses who don't know much but has the potential to do anything. I started him purely English cause that was what he was natural at and trained him to jump and he is SO great! I've taken him to a few shows and we won high point against my own coach! So that's SUPER encouraging! Lately I've been doing western with him. We've been doing gymkhanas too! I had to teach him how to gallop (which sounds dumb but it's true, he legitimately didn't know how) but once I got him going he is SOOOO fast!!( That's our Pole Bending run at the last gymkhana) And like I said earlier I've been doing cowhorse stuff too but minus the cow because he would have a tantrum if he saw one lol He's the cutest and sweetest little horse you could find anywhere!<3
What's Penny like? :)

Well at least you've been riding! That's great that you've started English! I LOVE english! It's hard to get used to at first, but keep practicing and you'll make it through! Western to English is a really hard switch! Nothing to sit into, thin stirrups, your legs move around a lot with the stirrup leathers...It's a pain at first but once you get the feel, you'll do great! Has your instructor put you on the lunge line for canter? I'm currently studying to be a coach and I just started but if you're having trouble with your balance I'd start with going on the lunge line and going no hands and no stirrups at the trot and then going into the canter and once you've gotten that, go no hands, no stirrups and then when you're comfortable go on your own again. I did that with one of my barn buddies who didn't have ANY balance and it helped a LOT! The lunge line is nice because you can work on yourself and not have to worry about controlling your horse.

Thats awesome!! Glad you and Maverick are doing great!!!!!! Penny and I have been riding lately...but still not as much as i would like! I now have a riding instructor and are learning a lot of cool things! we have officially started English riding and are doing good until it comes to the canter :( I've taken some bad falls at the canter and it is sometimes hard to overcome! BUT im not gonna let that get to me lol!!!! Penny's canter is by far the hardest to keep balance to :/ other than that we have been working alot on Halter and Showmanship (shes catching onto quickly) so im pretty happy about that! So what other events do you and Maverick do? (LOVE his name BTW )