Dressage Pony in the Making

Strutting his stuff

Slowly getting back into more canter work since his lameness!

Gambler continues to blow me away. I am so proud of how hard he has worked this past week, and how much he has improved. It's wonderful what consistent work does to a horse. ;) It has been really cool to see the wheels turning in Gambler's head as he's gotten back into a routine, and also how his respect and listening skills have already improved.

Last weekend, my grandfather, and a former horseback rider (he grew up in California and had horses), was visiting from New York. He had yet to meet Gambler, so on Sunday afternoon, I dragged him out to the barn. He had a blast, and it was great because he got to meet Heather, Peter, Sally, Kim, Katie... the whole clan pretty much! Heather, Sally and Kim were riding at the same time we were, and Gambler may have shown off a little. ;) It was my second time riding in my new dressage saddle, and I was finally starting to get the hang of out to sit in it and open up my hips. Hooray! Well, my granddad got some good pictures that I'm sharing in this post! On Sunday, Gambler was still putting his head up every second he could get, and going behind the vertical instead of stretching out... The progress in this week alone is awesome.

Rocking the dressage saddle, no?

Following Peter around the field

Well, Monday, I rode Gambler out in the big field for the first time since before he was lame! We went out with Jill, and her mare Sara. Sara is a very fast horse who will take off at a fast gallop up the hills. We worked on some trotting and cantering in the flatter areas of the field, before deciding to go up the big hills. I had agreed with Florence that the days we hacked out in the field, would be days that Gambler and I would do lots of walking and trotting up and down the hills to build muscle. Well, Sara had other ideas. She took off up the hill and Gambler was not having it! He balked at the hill, did a little crow hop and tried to turn around. It took a lot of urging to get him up the hill, which we cantered up. Ah, well. I think I'll hack him out alone at some point soon so that we can avoid that, and we can calmly do hill work. After a brief 20 minute spin in the field, I took him down to the ring and did some ring work. This was one of the best rides I'd had with him to date. He was being so fabulous. We worked a little bit on his canter, which has gotten super awkward and unbalanced. He was also a guinea pig pony for me! See, we have a new boarder, who is very green. She got a rescue about two years ago, who she has trained herself. Well, her mare is very poorly mannered and green. She does the whole spinning her butt around to avoid the mounting block thing that Gambler is so good at. ;) Well, I had gotten on Gambler with no problem, but got off, telling the boarder, "Look, my horse is horrible and does that too, let me show you how I fix it!" Well, Gambler stood perfectly still... go figure! But anyhow, I showed her how to correct her mare, and eventually the horse was standing without any problems!

Tuesday, Florence rode Gambler because I had FCA. I actually ran into Florence at school that afternoon as I was leaving, and got a glowing report. She lunged Gambler briefly in the side reins before doing a short ride on him - apparently he was a tad excited, but eventually calmed down.

"Wild pony" ground tying while I cleaned my tack... he's insane, ya'll.

Wednesday was legit the best ride I have ever had on this horse. Ever. Oh my word. I lunged him briefly in the side reins before getting on, and it made a world of difference. He didn't put his head up once, not even during trot-canter transitions. He practically drug his nose on the ground, but was also collecting when asked. I was so beyond proud. Happy tears at the end of that ride. :)

My babyface <3 

Yesterday I only had about twenty minutes at the barn before going somewhere, so I briefly worked on Gambler's ground manners (standing in the cross ties) and then lunged him in the side reins. He was a little spunky and kept acting up a little when I asked him to canter, but he was stretching out super nicely by the end, and my non-horsey mother was commenting on how good he looked! I had my mom take some pictures of Gambler and I, because the only pictures I have of us are sweaty selfies (it's a thing, okay?). Looking how freaking huge my horse is! Madness. I sticked him the other day and he's just a hair over 16.2. I think he should stop growing, please, but he seems to have other thoughts.

Gambler unamused about life

Today was.. interesting. I had to exercise Auggie, who I am starting to bring back from three months off due to a nasty abscess, and when I went to get Gambler after turning Auggie out, he decided he wanted nothing to do with me. He saw me, and went, oh, crap, She's going to work me! He decided that trotting away from me for five minutes was a great plan, so we worked on that a bit. I first got him to not trot away when I'd get close to him, and just pet him for like five minutes. Then, I got him to follow me around, without a halter on. Next, I haltered him, and walked away. I made a big show of putting my tack back into the tack room (you better believe he was watching, before going back out and loving on him some more. Then, I brought him into the barn and groomed him and gave him a treat. Turned him back out for a few minutes, caught him again and hand grazed him. Turned him out, and this time he hung around at the fence with me! My plan worked, muahaha! So now, hopefully he'll be good about catching again. I think he was just really tired of all the hard work these past few weeks, can't say I blame him! I'm very proud with his progress and he deserved a break.

And... *drum roll* Auggie is finally sound, after dealing with a horrid abscess for several months! Poor pony. He's allowed to trot in the ring for the next two weeks, and then we can start cantering. I rode him today and will ride him several days next week for Peter. Right now we're only at twenty minute rides, which is short and boring, but c'est la vie... I worked on teaching him to stretch out onto the buckle today, to give him something to think about... He was great!

Tomorrow I work all day (but expect to see a blog post... I have three in the works. :D ) and then Sunday, I'm hanging out with my two friends at their horseshow! Love my life. I'm blessed!

Abounding in Love and Faithfulness

A seven-minute progression from our first ride with Florence

Florence and Gambler 

That would be God. And I really love Him as of late. Like, holy wow. How did I get so blessed?! So overwhelmed with God's glory and blessings. He's so gosh darn amazing, you should get to know Him if you don't already. ;)

So, let me start from the beginning.

I've been feeling very frustrated. In a holding pattern. Like I couldn't teach Gambler the more refined things he needs to learn in his training. And it sucked, because I just didn't want to ride, period, because we weren't getting anywhere. So I just didn't ride. And that made things worse.

So I applied for a job, in order to make more income and take lessons. I didn't pray. I went in all cocky.

Gambler yesterday before my lesson with Heather

I didn't get the job.

So I prayed. And then I went to the saddlery one day and there was a sign for a woman, Florence, who was looking for horses to ride. For free. She's a dressage rider, wanting some time in the saddle.

I prayed some more, and emailed her.

She emailed me back half an hour later, with an exuberant, "YES! I would love to meet Gambler!".

Hallelujah!!

We talked on the phone for a good two hours that night and set up a time for her to meet Gambler this past Wednesday.

It went amazingly. She loves Gambler, and he loves her. I also adore her. She is so kind, funny, encouraging, and talented. She is going to be riding Gambler once a week for me, and I will hopefully take lessons from her periodically. She is very gentle, yet demands respect in a kind way. Gambler responds very well to her.


I also had a lesson yesterday with Heather. Gambler was not that well behaved, but she worked through it with him, and he was doing really well by the end.

The good news doesn't end there, though! Florence wanted me to get a dressage saddle, but I don't have the funds for that. Well, I've been praying, and a brand new dressage saddle literally fell into my lap.

Gambler and Heather

Florence came back out today, and did another training session. We lunged Gambler in side reins, which has been a really helpful tool in teaching him to stretch down, and then she rode for about ten minutes, and I rode for about ten minutes. We worked mainly on stopping Gambler just with our seats, and it was so cool!

So there's my little spiel about how blessed I am and how awesome God is. I'm so happy. :) So blessed to have some amazing horse people in my life!

My Horse: A Reminder

I love my horse. He is wonderful. He makes my horrible days slightly less horrible, and actually more close to wonderful. He makes me laugh until I cry. He gives me snuggles and smiles and sometimes I think he might actually love me back.

He tries his heart out for me. I think he would sooner crash through something then refuse to jump it. Even when I do everything wrong, I can see the wheels turning in his head, trying to figure out what I'm asking, and trying to put that into play.

He is the goofiest little creature ever. He knows it, and he thinks he's hilarious! He loves picking up the broom with his mouth and sweeping, and then will drop the broom and nicker at me, like "Hello! Mom! Did you see that?". His other favorite thing to do is pick up brushes that I've set down, drop them, and pick them back up. Again and again. It's hysterical, and he gets such a huge kick out of it, too.

He loves people, or at least tries to. (But the people he dislikes? Oh boy, watch out!) He gets on everyone's nerves, but it's okay, because everyone who meets him is instantly infatuated with him.

He is not perfect. But that's okay. Neither am I, nor will I ever be. But that's okay. He won't ever be perfect either, but I'd like to think our imperfect puzzle pieces fit together pretty darn well.

But that doesn't mean that sometimes I don't come home and cry and scream and tell my mom I want to sell my horse except nobody except a glue factory will want him, because he's worth nothing. And sometimes I cry and scream at my horse and then he gets very sad, and I get very sad. And then I get to thinking - you know what I conclude?

It's all me. Literally, 99% if not 100% of our problems are because I'm too stubborn, too lazy, too apathetic, to insecure, you name it.

Yet! I still blame my horse. And that is bad. Because my horse is all of the wonderful qualities I listed above and more.

He subtly reminds me of that on a daily basis, but I don't give him credit.

I absolutely adore my horse. He's just the greatest. Today, for example. I had a horrible, horrible, horrible day at school. Legit, nothing could've gone worse. (Except the apocalypse, someone dying, or, ya know. The usual.) I didn't want to go to the barn, but I hadn't been out since Monday, and haven't worked Gambler since Sunday, so my mom made me go.

Well, we got to the barn and it started thundering! No rain yet, so I decided to groom Gambler and love on him a little,  just out in the field. Well, then I started getting sad about everything that had happened today. My horse, being the perfect creature he is, cheered me up. I started crying, and he suddenly got very overprotective of me. He shooed all of the other horses away, and started nudging my shoulder. I'm not even making this up. I hugged his neck, and he wrapped his head around my side. It was the cutest thing.

Things like these remind me why I do this. Or when I'm coming down to the barn and I call Gambler's name, and he comes running to the gate. How when we're playing around at liberty, he is perfectly content on following me around and doing everything I ask, even though it's dumb. How one time, when he was galloping with the herd, he saw me, left the herd, and came over to hang out with me.

So, this is just a reminder to me of why I love my horse. I love the reward I have gotten out of rescuing and training a horse. It is worth it, Amina. So remember that. Whenever you're sad. Remember how much you love your horse. And more importantly, how much he loves you.